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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  AT  LOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


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Form  1,-0 
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NAVAL  HEROES 

OF 

TO-DAY 


(C)  Brown  and  Dawson. 

A    Broadside    at    Night    Taken    by    Its    Own    Light 


NAVAL  HEROES 

OF 

TODAY 


BY 


FRANCIS  A.  COLLINS 

Author  of  "The  Fighting  Engineers,'' 
"The  Air  Man,"  etc 


ILLUSTRATED  WITH 
PHOTOGRAPHS 


41603 

NEW  YORK 

THE  CENTURY  CO. 

1918 


Copyright,  1918,  by 
The  Centuby  Co. 


Published,  September,  1918 


: 


For  much  of  the  material 
here  presented  the  author  is  in- 
debted to  Lieutenant  Wells 
Hawks,  Passed  Asst,  Paymaster, 
U.  S.  N.  R.  F. 


CONTENTS 


PART  I 


>> 


r 


GUARDING  THE  SEA  LANES 

CHAPTER 

I  The  American   Spirit     . 

II  With  the  Destroyers     . 

III  Returning  Good  for  Evil 

IV  The  Inspiration  of  Names 
V  Through  Smoke  and  Flames 

VI  "Abandon  Ship"    . 

VII  A  Close  Call  .      . 

VIII  Wireless  Dangers 

IX  His  Last  Words     . 

X  Fire  at  Sea  . 

XI  His  Graduate  Course 


PART  II 
WITH  THE  MERCHANT  FLEET 

XII  Routine  Work  . 

XIII  The  First  Blow     .     . 

XIV  Without  Warning     . 
XV  The  "Silver  Shell"  . 

XVI    A  Record  Performance 
XVII     One  of  the  First  Tests 
XVIII    Before  and  After  the  Wreck 


PAGE 

3 
8 

15 
22 

27 
32 
38 
43 

48 

52 
60 


67 

73 

83 

92 

100 

104 

108 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

XIX 

XX 

XXI 

XXII 

XXIII 

XXIV 


Aboard  the  Largest  Transport  115 

Via  Wireless 120 

A  Success  and  a  Failure  .  .125 
Standing  by  the  Ship  .  .  .  133 
When     the     S.S.     "Lincoln" 

Sank x37 

Guarding  the  Transports    .     .   147 


PART  III 


ON  AIR-SCOUT  DUTY 


XXV  First  to  Fly     .     . 

XXVI  Early  Exploits 

XXVII  An  Air  Battle      . 

XXVIII  A  Seaplane  Wreck 

XXIX  A  Balloon  Wreck 

XXX  Air  Coast  Patrol  . 

XXXI  Spotting  the  Fall  of 

XXXII  Air  Scouting    .      . 

XXXIII  Aero  Photography 

XXXIV  A  Seven-Hour  Air  Battle 


Shots 


153 
158 
162 
168 

175 
180 
187 
192 
198 
205 


PART  IV 
IN  HOME  WATERS 


XXXV  In  Peace  Times 213 

XXXVI  On  the  Spur  of  the  Moment   .  219 

XXXVII  The  Fire-Fighters      .      .      .      .223 

XXXVIII  Those  in  Peril 227 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

XXXIX 
XL 

XLI 
XLII 


The  Wreck  of  the  "San  Diego"  2$j 
The  Wireless  Guard  ....  244 

Modern  Weapons 256 

Manning  the  Fleets       .     .     .  265 


XLIII 
XLIV 


PART  V 
WITH  THE  MARINES 

With  the  Marines     . 
"First  to  Fight"    . 


275 
280 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


A  broadside  at  night  taken  by  its  own 

light Frontispiece 

Capture    of   the   first    German    submarine    by 

Americans 17 

A  camouflaged  destroyer 18 

Launching  a  torpedo 35 

Signal  drill 36 

On  shore  leave  in  the  tropics 53 

A  gala  occasion 54 

A  400  lb.  charge  of  powder  for  a  14-inch  gun  71 

A  floating  target 72 

Some  ship's  mascots 77 

The  gun  crew  ready  for  action 78 

Sunset  at  sea 87 

Riding  out  a  storm 88 

German  submarine  destroyed  by  an  American 

depth  bomb 109 

The    first    American    fighting    men    to    reach 

France 110 

On  the  high  seas *27 

With  all  flags  set 128 

In  home  waters 145 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Awaiting  the  admiral 146 

Practising  on  a  submarine  target     .      .      .      .163 

With  the  air  patrol  fleet 164 

Seaplane  practice 181 

Drill  at  the  Newport  Navy  Yard     ....    182 
An  American  fleet  in  Chinese  waters     .      .      .    199 

The  deck  from  aloft 200 

The  range  finder 241 

Training  a  gun  crew 242 

A  landing  party  of  American  sailors     .      .      .251 

Rolling  scuppers  under 252 

U.  S.  Marines  and  Bluejackets  enjoying  a  day's 

outing  at  Culebra 269 

U.  S.  Marines  in  action 270 


PART  I 
GUARDING  THE  SEA  LANES 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF 
TO-DAY 


THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

IT  is  difficult  to  define  the  American  spirit. 
We  know  it  to  be  fearless,  unselfish,  and 
dependable  in  emergency.  The  best  defini- 
tion is  an  example.  There  is  a  wealth  of 
material  to  choose  from  in  every  service  of 
the  American  Navy. 

The  peril  of  the  submarine  has  brought 
a  new  situation.  Its  missiles  strike  unex- 
pectedly and  with  deadly  effect,  and  often 
the  blow  falls  far  from  assistance. 

The  exploit  of  Osmond  K.  Ingram,  chosen 
almost  at  random  from  the  submarine  re- 
ports, will  serve  the  purpose.  Ingram  was 
a  gunner's  mate  of  the  first  class  aboard  the 
Cassin  on  submarine  patrol  duty.  A  U-boat 
was  sighted,  one  day,  running  on  the  surface 

3 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

at  a  distance  of  five  miles.  The  alarm 
brought  the  men  quickly  to  their  battle  sta- 
tions, and  the  Cassin  was  headed  for  the 
enemy  full  speed.  The  submarine  had  time 
to  submerge  before  the  Cassin  came  up. 
She  cruised  about  for  some  time  without 
picking  the  submarine  up,  steaming  in  a 
series  of  violent  zigzags  to  confuse  the  en- 
emy. 

At  the  end  of  half  an  hour  Commander 
W.  N.  Vernon  of  the  Cassin  suddenly  sighted 
a  torpedo  only  four  hundred  yards  off.  It 
was  aimed  to  strike  the  Cassin  amidships. 
The  Captain  rang  for  the  emergency  speed 
for  both  engines.  Men  who  have  watched 
the  approach  of  a  modern  torpedo  describe 
the  experience  as  one  of  the  most  terrifying 
in  a  sailor's  experience.  Even  those  who 
have  been  repeatedly  under  fire  find  the  mo- 
ment very  trying.  One  does  not  see  a  shell 
that  strikes.  The  torpedo,  on  the  other 
hand,  moves  slowly  in  comparison.  Many 
seconds  must  elapse  after  it  is  sighted  be- 
fore the  blow  falls ;  and  the  victim  must  face 
them  as  calmly  as  he  may. 

The  crew  of  the  Cassin  saw  the  wake  of 
4 


THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

the  torpedo  whiten  and  run  out,  drawing  a 
line  on  the  water  directly  toward  them.  In- 
gram, forgetting  his  own  safety,  rose  to  one 
of  those  acts  of  supreme  sacrifice  that  render 
the  American  spirit  traditional.  As  it  be- 
came clear  that  the  torpedo  would  miss  the 
middle  part  of  the  ship  and  strike  somewhere 
astern,  Ingram  realized  that  the  ship  was  en- 
dangered by  some  boxes  of  explosives  on  the 
after-deck.  If  the  torpedo  struck  near  them 
they  would  destroy  the  ship. 

It  would  have  been  a  simple  matter  to  run 
forward  with  the  rest  of  the  crew  and  save 
himself;  but  Ingram  deliberately  turned  and 
ran  aft.  He  was  racing  with  the  torpedo. 
It  was  a  question  of  seconds.  The  torpedo 
was  only  a  few  feet  away  when  Ingram  suc- 
ceeded in  picking  up  and  throwing  over  the 
last  of  the  boxes  of  explosives.  His  pres- 
ence of  mind  had  saved  the  ship.  When  the 
torpedo  struck,  Ingram  was  the  only  member 
of  the  crew  in  the  vicinity.  He  was  thrown 
into  the  water  and  drowned  before  assistance 
could  reach  him,  being  the  only  man  on  board 
to  lose  his  life. 

The  torpedo  struck  a  glancing  blow  which 
5 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

disabled  one  engine  but  struck  no  vital  part. 
As  her  crew  hurried  to  repair  the  damage 
the  Cassin  pluckily  turned  about,  and,  de- 
spite her  handicap,  gave  battle  to  the  sub- 
marine. She  remained  for  hours  on  the 
scene,  and  when  the  U-boat  finally  lifted,  the 
Cassin  greeted  her  with  four  well  placed 
shots  which  forced  her  to  disappear  with 
what  damages  it  could  only  be  guessed. 

Acting  with  instant  decision,  Ingram  gave 
his  life  to  save  others  and  safeguard  his 
ship.  In  the  ready  intelligence  of  his  ac- 
tion, and  in  his  unselfish  devotion,  Ingram 
has  set  a  very  high  standard  for  the  achieve- 
ment of  the  American  spirit.  As  a  special 
mark  of  respect,  one  of  the  new  destroyers 
has  been  named  for  him.  So  great  an  au- 
thority as  Admiral  Sims,  in  commenting  on 
the  affair,  said: 

"The  behavior  was  admirable.  There 
was  no  excitement,  and  afterwards  the  men 
remained  quietly  at  their  battle  stations 
throughout  the  night." 

The  following  letter,  written  by  Secretary 
Daniels,  was  read  aloud  to  the  crew  of  the 
U.  S.  S.  Cassin: 

6 


THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

"The  Department  has  received  the  report 
of  the  action  between  the  U.  S.  S.  Cassin  and 
a  German  submarine  on  October  15,  1917* 
and  notes  with  gratification  the  highly  com- 
mendable conduct  of  yourself,  the  other  offi- 
cers, and  the  crew  of  the  Cassin.  The  man- 
ner in  which  the  Cassin  kept  under  way  with 
her  steering-gear  disabled  and  practically  at 
the  mercy  of  the  submarine,  and  opened  fire 
on  her  when  she  appeared,  is  well  worthy  of 
the  best  traditions  of  the  Navy." 

In  another  letter  to  Lieutenant  McClaran 
and  Saunders,  Secretary  Daniels  especially 
praised  them  for  their  "highly  commendable 
conduct  in  going  down  into  the  smoking  hold 
adjacent  to  the  magazines  to  ascertain  the 
extent  of  the  damage  done  to  the  Cassin 
after  that  vessel  had  been  struck  by  the  tor- 
pedo." 


II 

WITH  THE  DESTROYERS 

EVERY  man  of  the  crews  of  our  destroy- 
ers on  submarine  duty  is  something  of  a 
hero.  Many  of  them  will  probably  be  dis- 
tinguished by  official  recognition,  but  the  list 
of  fearless  men  who  have  faced  death  at 
this  post  of  duty  may  be  counted  by  thou- 
sands. 

Every  one  knows  the  speedy-looking  craft 
that  are  driving  the  submarines  from  the  sea. 
With  their  rows  of  funnels,  they  might  be 
mistaken  at  a  distance  for  fast  Atlantic 
liners.  They  are  the  greyhounds  of  the 
Navy.  The  beam  of  a  destroyer  is  about 
one  twelfth  her  length.  There  is  a  great 
gain  for  speed  in  this  proportion,  and  it  is 
upon  their  speed  that  we  depend  to-day  for 
the  safety  of  the  seas.  But  for  their  crews 
this  narrow  hull  means  indescribable  dis- 
comfort. 

8 


WITH  THE  DESTROYERS 

No  ship  afloat,  probably,  is  less  stable  in 
rough  weather.  A  destroyer  rolls  through 
an  arc  of  sixty  degrees  in  six  seconds.  Only 
a  sailor  knows  what  this  means.  Such  a 
motion  will  often  roll  an  old  sailor  overboard 
before  he  can  grasp  a  support.  One  of  these 
boats  has  been  known  to  roll  through  an  arc 
of  seventy-three  degrees.  As  their  speed 
increases  up  to  thirty  knots  an  hour  or  bet- 
ter, such  craft  roll  and  pitch,  and  combine 
the  two  motions  in  a  very  terrifying  man- 
ner. 

The  men  below  decks  must  be  strapped 
into  their  berths  in  rough  weather.  Many 
suffer  from  broken  arms  and  legs.  And  a 
storm  may  continue  for  days  without  relief. 
The  wireless  man  of  a  destroyer  was  once 
held  a  voluntary  prisoner  in  his  cabin  for 
more  than  forty  hours  without  food,  rather 
than  face  the  sea  that  constantly  swept  the 
decks.  There  may  be  hours  at  a  time  when 
it  is  impossible  to  walk  the  length  of  the 
boat.  A  steel  rope  is  often  rigged  up  sev- 
eral feet  above  the  deck  to  serve  as  a  trolley. 
A  sailor  passes  a  rope  over  this,  and,  fasten- 
ing it  about  his  shoulders,  waits  until  the 

9 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

boat  has  pitched  steeply  enough,   when  he 
slides  down  in  comparative  safety. 

Aboard  this  frail  craft  must  be  carried 
considerable  supplies  of  explosives,  which  a 
chance  blow  may  set  off.  The  boat's  wea- 
pons include  a  number  of  depth  bombs,  for 
instance,  each  of  which  contains  about  three 
hundred  pounds  of  T  N  T.  The  explosion 
of  one  of  these  bombs  deep  in  the  water 
wrecks  everything  in  the  vicinity.  It  is  not 
necessary  that  they  strike  the  U-boat  or  ex- 
plode very  near  them.  Some  idea  of  their 
power  and  the  danger  of  handling  them  may 
be  gained  from  the  fact  that  a  destroyer 
must  be  going  twenty-five  knots  an  hour 
when  they  are  dropped  astern.  If  the  speed 
be  slower  than  this,  the  boats  are  likely  to  be 
injured.  There  have  been  cases  of  destroy- 
ers dropping  depth  bombs  while  traveling 
at  half  this  speed,  when  the  explosion  has  all 
but  wrecked  them.  To  save  weight  and 
gain  speed,  which  is  so  essential,  parts  of 
the  hulls  of  the  destroyers  are  made  only 
three  sixteenths  of  an  inch  thick — little 
enough  protection,  it  would  seem,  against 
the  storms  of  the  Atlantic. 
10 


WITH  THE  DESTROYERS 

No  other  service  is  so  trying  to  men's 
nerves  as  that  aboard  the  destroyers  in  ac- 
tive service.  It  has  been  found  necessary  to 
give  the  crews  a  rest  after  each  cruise  equal 
to  about  two  thirds  the  time  spent  at  sea. 
The  watchers  on  board  are  limited  to  eight 
hours  in  every  twenty-four.  Day  after 
day  the  crew  are  unable  to  take  off  their 
clothes,  and  must  grab  their  food  while 
holding  for  their  lives  to  a  convenient 
stanchion. 

The  officers  are  worked  to  the  limit  of 
their  endurance.  For  instance,  in  convoy- 
ing a  ship,  a  destroyer  must  zigzag  about  the 
ship  at  top  speed  to  keep  every  part  of  the 
sea  under  observation.  It  frequently  hap- 
pens that  the  officer  of  the  deck  must  change 
the  ship's  course  two  hundred  times  in  an 
hour.  On  every  destroyer  one  of  the  watch 
officers  does  the  additional  work  of  acting 
as  chief  engineer.  The  officers  may  also  be 
called  upon  to  serve  in  the  crow's-nest  as 
lookout,  or  to  go  aboard  a  torpedoed  ship, 
all  in  addition  to  his  regular  eight-hour 
watch.  The  executive  officer  also  acts  at 
times  as  navigator — and  the  work  of  naviga- 

ii 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

tion  on  these  little  crafts  is  very  arduous. 
The  commanding  officer  frequently  averages 
nearly  twenty  hours  of  duty  a  day  through- 
out a  cruise. 

The  destroyers  start  out  to  cover  a  regular 
course,  but  they  are  at  the  beck  and  call  of 
everything  that  floats.  A  wireless  SOS 
may  draw  them  hundreds  of  miles  off  their 
course.  The  life  of  a  destroyer's  crew  is 
just  one  submarine  chase  after  another. 

Another  perilous  service  that  has  come  to 
be  looked  upon  as  commonplace  routine  work 
is  that  of  the  mine-sweeper.  To  free  the 
ocean  lanes  of  dangerous  mines,  great  nets 
are  drawn  through  the  water  and  the  "catch" 
carefully  removed.  The  operation  is  much 
like  that  of  fishing,  but  with  the  danger  that 
the  mines  encountered  may  be  set  off  with 
disastrous  results.  When  such  a  mine  is 
caught  in  the  net,  it  must  be  drawn  up, 
passed  over  the  ship's  side,  and  placed  on 
deck  with  the  most  anxious  precaution. 
The  slightest  jar  may  set  off  its  delicate 
mechanism,  and  such  mines  are  loaded  with 
the  design  of  destroying  great  ships  at  a 
single  blow.     In  rough  weather,  with  the 

12 


WITH  THE  DESTROYERS 

boat  rolling  and  pitching,  the  work  is  exceed- 
ingly precarious.  But  familiarity  breeds 
contempt  even  for  these  floating  mines,  and 
the  sailors  go  about  their  perilous  work  with 
light  hearts. 

One  of  the  surprises  of  the  present  war 
is  the  youthfulness  of  many  of  the  men 
who  have  gained  high  honors.  Although 
twenty-one  years  has  been  fixed  for  the  selec- 
tive draft,  and  eighteen  for  enlistment,  the 
age  limit  is  often  dodged,  so  anxious  and  so 
fit  are  American  boys  to  enter  the  service. 
It  has  frequently  been  remarked  abroad  that 
the  American  troops  are  surprisingly  youth- 
ful. One  of  the  first  boys  to  be  invalided 
home  was  a  San  Francisco  school  lad  who 
had  enlisted,  undergone  the  necessary  period 
of  training,  journeyed  to  France,  fought 
and  been  wounded  before  his  eighteenth 
year. 

In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to 
quote  briefly  from  a  letter  written  to  the 
Captain  of  the  U.  S.  S.  Georgia  by  the 
mother  of  a  second-class  seaman  serving 
aboard  his  ship.  It  reads  in  part  as  fol- 
lows: 

13 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

I  am  writing  to  thank  you  for  the  good  care  you 
gave  my  boy. 

He  was  a  boy  just  eighteen  and  delicate,  but  he 
came  back  to  me  a  strong,  healthy,  robust,  a  fine 
looking  lad  of  nineteen,  a  boy  any  mother  may  feel 
proud  of ;  and  my  prayer  is  that  he  will  come  back 
again,  and  that  we  may  be  prouder  than  before. 
May  the  Lord  watch  between  him  and  me  and  all  on 
the  U.  S.  S.  Georgia  until  we  meet  again. 


14 


Ill 

RETURNING  GOOD  FOR  EVIL 

OUR  pride  in  the  capture  of  the  first 
German  submarine  crew  is  far  greater 
than  any  satisfaction  over  its  mere  military 
advantage.  The  American  crew  showed 
themselves  fearless  and  gallant  fighters. 
There  are  many  kinds  of  courage.  In  the 
encounter  between  the  American  destroyer 
and  the  U-boat  no  one  held  back  in  the  ac- 
tual physical  encounter.  It  remained  for 
Americans,  however,  to  face  death  willingly 
a  second  time  in  a  very  terrifying  form,  to 
save  the  men  who  had  just  sought  their  lives. 
Many  painful  records  of  the  inhuman  treat- 
ment of  prisoners  by  the  Germans  might  be 
cited  in  contrast. 

The  engagement  was  one  of  the  shortest 
and  most  decisive  in  the  history  of  the  war. 
While  escorting  a  large  convoy,  the  U.  S. 
destroyer  Fanning  sighted  a  submarine  that 
had  crept  close  in  unobserved.  Her  peri- 
i5 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

scope  appeared  above  the  water  for  but  a 
few  seconds — long  enough,  however,  for 
Coxswain  Loomis  of  the  Fanning  to  give  the 
alarm.  Only  the  most  alert  lookout  could 
have  observed  the  little  tube  with  its  wake 
of  bubbles.  The  alarm  found  every  one  at 
his  post.  In  such  an  encounter  a  few  sec- 
onds' advantage  spells  victory  or  disaster. 
Without  a  moment's  hesitation,  Lieutenant 
S.  C.  Carpenter,  the  commander  of  the  Fan- 
ning, headed  for  the  U-boat's  position.  As 
she  swept  over  the  spot,  first  one  and  then 
another  depth  charge  was  dropped. 

Every  eye  was  strained  upon  the  sur- 
rounding waters  for  some  sign  of  the  enemy. 
The  next  shot,  delivered  at  such  short  range, 
might  decide  the  battle.  Several  anxious 
moments  followed.  It  began  to  be  feared 
that  the  submarine  had  moved  nearer  the 
convoy  and  might  deliver  a  fatal  blow. 

The  strain  was  beginning  to  tell  on  all 
hands,  when  the  water  broke  at  a  point  be- 
tween the  Fanning  and  her  convoy,  and  the 
periscope  bobbed  above  the  surface.  A 
third  depth  charge  was  loosened.  The  sub- 
marine continued  to  rise  rapidly  until  her 
16 


RETURNING  GOOD  FOR  EVIL 

conning-tower  appeared  above  the  surface. 
She  was  greeted  by  three  shots  from  the 
Nicholson,  another  American  ship  close  by. 

The  Fanning  then  opened  with  her  bow 
gun,  served  by  picked  gunners.  Each  shot 
told,  and  on  the  third  discharge  the  hatches 
of  the  submarine  flew  open  and  the  crew 
rushed  upon  deck.  They  crowded  along  the 
narrow  ledge  facing  the  Fanning  and  held 
up  their  hands  in  token  of  surrender.  The 
battle  had  been  fought  and  won  in  less  than 
eighteen  minutes  from  the  time  the  U-boat's 
periscope  was  first  sighted. 

Keeping  her  batteries  trained  on  the  sub- 
marine, the  Fanning  cautiously  approached. 
The  prize  was  a  rich  one,  and  the  suddenness 
of  the  surrender  appeared  suspicious.  It 
was  not  until  the  Fanning  was  alongside  that 
the  nature  of  the  trick  was  discovered.  Be- 
fore coming  on  deck,  the  crew  of  the  U-boat 
had  scuttled  their  ship,  thus  literally  burning 
their  bridges  with  a  vengeance.  The  sub- 
marine, as  the  men  of  the  Fanning  were  to 
learn,  had  been  struck  in  a  vital  part  and 
could  make  no  further  defense:  if  she  were 
captured,  however,  the  secrets  of  her  con- 

19 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

struction  would  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy. 

The  submarine  was  already  well  down 
when  the  Fanning  came  alongside.  A  line 
was  thrown  to  the  men;  but,  before  they 
could  escape,  the  boat  made  her  last  plunge, 
and  the  crew  were  forced  to  leap  into  the 
sea.  The  stories  of  the  treatment  of  the 
vanquished  by  the  crew  of  U-boats  must 
have  been  in  the  minds  of  these  American 
sailors.  It  was  one  of  these  submarines,  it 
will  be  remembered,  that  enticed  the  crew  of 
a  torpedoed  ship  to  come  aboard,  and,  after 
taking  their  life-preservers  from  them,  sub- 
merged, leaving  them  to  face  certain  death. 

A  high  sea  was  running  about  the  Ameri- 
can destroyer,  and  the  water — for  it  was 
midwinter — was  cruelly  cold.  Without 
awaiting  orders,  two  of  the  crew  of  the  Fan- 
ning jumped  overboard.  The  men  who 
showed  this  fine  sense  of  the  ethics  of  the 
sea  were  Chief  Pharmacist  A.  E.  Harwell 
and  Coxswain  F.  G.  Connor.  The  first 
German  brought  aboard  died  from  exposure, 
which  shows  how  severe  a  test  of  courage 
was  called  for.  One  by  one,  the  rest  of  the 
20 


RETURNING  GOOD  FOR  EVIL 

crew,  ten  in  all,  were  brought  aboard.  They 
were  found  to  be  so  weak  that  lines  were 
fastened  about  them  to  pull  them  aboard. 

Nor  did  the  gallantry  of  the  American 
sailors  end  here.  The  German  who  had 
died  was  buried  with  full  military  honors  by 
the  men  whom  they  had  sought  to  destroy. 
The  crew  were  served  hot  coffee,  and  our 
sailors  shared  their  food  and  clothing  with 
the  prisoners.  Several  of  the  men  took  off 
their  overcoats  in  the  biting  wind,  handing 
them  to  the  Germans.  The  Germans  re- 
ceived these  attentions  with  amazement,  and 
the  captain,  lining  up  his  men  on  the  Fan- 
ning's  deck,  called  for  three  cheers  for  the 
American  sailors. 

The  men  who  jumped  into  the  winter  sea 
have  been  commended  and  promoted  for 
their  services.  It  is  significant  that  the  first 
man  on  the  list  is  an  old  honor  boy  in  the 
New  York  City  schools,  who  enlisted  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  war,  giving  up  a  position  of 
salesman  in  a  department  store. 


21 


IV 
THE  INSPIRATION  OF  NAMES 

IT  has  been  a  very  happy  idea  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States  Government  to  give 
to  ships  of  the  Navy  the  names  of  heroic  of- 
ficers lost  in  the  service.  From  the  present 
war,  even  in  its  early  stages,  a  wealth  of 
material  is  supplied.  Should  America  build 
the  greatest  navy  in  the  world,  ships  could 
not  be  found  to  bear  the  names  of  all  these 
heroes. 

In  christening  one  of  the  latest  destroyers, 
the  Kalk,  the  Government  preserved  the 
memory  of  one  of  the  most  heroic  actions  in 
the  history  of  the  Navy.  Lieutenant  Stan- 
ton Frederick  Kalk  was  the  officer  of  the 
deck  of  the  U.  S.  destroyer  Jacob  Jones,  lost 
in  action  December  6,  191 7.  The  destroyer, 
when  attacked,  was  proceeding  to  port  after 
target  practice.  The  blow  came  without 
warning,  and  but  for  the  vigilance  of  her 
officers,  all  would  have  been  lost.  Lieuten- 
22 


THE  INSPIRATION  OF  NAMES 

ant  Kalk  was  the  first  to  observe  the  ap- 
proach of  the  German  torpedo  while  it  was 
still  about  half  a  mile  distant  from  his  ship. 

Under  the  most  favorable  conditions  the 
torpedo  is  an  exceedingly  elusive  missile. 
Its  rapid  progress  through  the  water  is 
marked,  even  in  calm  weather,  only  by  a 
wake  of  tiny  waves  and  bubbles,  indiscerni- 
ble even  at  a  short  distance.  On  this  par- 
ticular December  afternoon  the  sea  was  cov- 
ered with  floating  ice  and  the  weather  rather 
thick,  which  of  course  acted  in  favor  of  the 
enemy.  These  torpedo  attacks  force  our 
men  to  face  a  situation  new  in  warfare.  The 
training  and  discipline  of  years  and  the  high- 
est skill  in  gunnery  count  for  little.  There 
is  no  opportunity  to  match  skill  and  fearless- 
ness against  the  enemy,  as  in  an  ordinary  en- 
gagement. The  safety  of  the  ship  and  the 
lives  of  all  on  board  may  depend  upon  a 
single  command,  and  the  skill  with  which  it 
is  carried  out. 

In  the  few  terrifying  seconds  of  life  left 

to  the  destroyer  as  the  torpedo  approached, 

there  was  little  time  for  preparation.     The 

manceuver  ordered  by  Lieutenant  Kalk  could 

23' 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

not  be  carried  out  before  the  torpedo  struck 
fairly  amidships.  The  wireless  apparatus 
and  mainmast  were  carried  away  by  the  im- 
pact, and  the  ship  rapidly  foundered.  The 
shock  of  the  explosion  killed  many  of  the 
crew,  and  threw  others  into  the  icy  water. 
There  was  little  time  to  lower  the  boats. 
Most  of  the  men  who  were  not  killed  by  the 
first  blow  succeeded  in  getting  clear  of  the 
ship,  and  reached  the  boats,  rafts,  or  pieces 
of  wreckage.  Of  the  crew  of  seven  officers 
and  103  men,  two  officers  and  67  men  were 
lost. 

The  men  who  reached  land  brought  stories 
of  bravery  and  self-sacrifice  scarcely  equaled 
in  the  history  of  the  seas.  Scores  of  men 
struggled  for  hours  in  the  icy  water.  All 
were  under  the  shadow  of  death,  and  many 
died  in  the  water  from  shock  and  exposure. 
At  such  a  time  the  self-sacrifice  of  the  officers 
and  their  men  was  above  all  praise. 

The  heroism  of  Lieutenant  Kalk  has  been 
described  by  many  witnesses.  Although 
weakened  by  the  shock  of  the  explosion,  Kalk 
continued  to  swim  from  one  raft  to  another 
to  encourage  his  men  and  lend  them  all  the 
24 


THE  INSPIRATION  OF  NAMES 

assistance  in  his  power.  His  cheering 
words  reached  most  of  his  men,  whom  he 
urged  to  hold  on  until  help  should  arrive. 

His  supreme  self-sacrifice,  however,  was 
in  voluntarily  relinquishing  his  place  on  the 
life-rafts  when  it  was  found  that  his  weight 
endangered  them.  He  swam  from  one  raft 
to  another,  searching  for  a  place,  until  his 
strength  failed  him  and  he  disappeared. 
One  of  the  sailors  who  saw  him  disappear 
said  of  him  that  "he  was  game  to  the  last." 

In  singling  out  men  for  conspicuous  brav- 
ery in  this  wreck,  Secretary  Daniels  has  also 
mentioned  the  work  of  Lieutenant  Norman 
Scott,  one  of  the  executive  officers.  In  the 
few  seconds  that  intervened  between  the  first 
observation  of  the  torpedo  and  the  explo- 
sion, Scott  found  time  to  have  the  steam 
turned  off,  thus  guarding  against  scalding 
the  men  if  the  pipes  were  broken.  At  his 
orders,  guns  were  fired  up  to  the  moment  the 
ship  was  struck.  One  of  the  officers,  Lieu- 
tenant David  W.  Bagley,  was  picked  up  by  a 
motor-boat,  and  succeeded  in  steering  a 
course  by  the  stars  and  the  direction  of  the 
wind  until  he  came  into  the  shipping  lanes 
25 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

and  was  rescued  by  a  small  patrol  boat.  The 
raft  was  commanded  by  Lieutenant  J.  K. 
Richards,  whose  coolness  and  cheerfulness 
in  the  face  of  almost  certain  death  revived 
the  spirit  of  his  men  and  brought  them  to 
safety.  Praise  was  also  bestowed  on  Charles 
Worth,  a  boatswain's  mate,  who  removed 
most  of  his  clothes  in  the  bitter  cold  to  warm 
a  seaman  more  thinly  clad  than  himself. 
One  of  the  seamen  stuck  to  the  ship  after  he 
had  been  thrown  overboard,  in  a  desperate 
effort  to  clear  a  boat.  He  was  finally  drawn 
under,  but  was  rescued  on  coming  to  the  sur- 
face. When  next  the  U.  S.  destroyer  Kalk 
is  heard  of,  it  will  be  well  to  recall  the  story 
of  the  men  whose  death  she  commemorates. 


26 


V 

THROUGH  SMOKE  AND  FLAMES 

WERE  the  exploits  of  J.  R.  Ridgely  to 
be  reenacted  for  a  moving  picture 
thriller,  it  would  be  considered  impossible 
melodrama.  Even  a  hardened  ''movie" 
audience  would  smile  incredulously. 

The  crew  had  been  called  to  quarters  by 
an  alarm  of  fire.  A  hasty  investigation 
showed  that  the  trouble  lay  deep  down  in  the 
engine-room,  in  a  particularly  inaccessible 
part  of  the  ship.  With  the  celerity  de- 
manded at  such  times,  the  entire  crew  rushed 
to  their  stations,  the  pumps  were  manned, 
and  the  hose  run  out.  Even  on  deck  it  was 
soon  clear  that  the  fire  was  serious.  Clouds 
of  black  smoke  began  to  pour  from  the  ven- 
tilators, indicating  that  the  fire  was  being  fed 
by  oil  and  was  rapidly  gaining  headway. 

When  a  ship's  ventilators  begin  to  smoke 
the  situation  is  serious.     The  fire  may  have 

27 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

spread  to  the  vital  parts  of  the  ship.  An 
oil  fire  is  especially  difficult  to  handle.  Its 
heat  is  intense,  often  driving  back  the  most 
daring  crew ;  and  water  may  cause  the  burn- 
ing oil  to  spread. 

It  had  been  the  work  of  only  a  few  min- 
utes for  the  crew  to  scale  the  perpendicular 
iron  ladder  leading  to  the  engine-room,  drag- 
ging the  heavy  hose  with  them;  but  they 
arrived  too  late.  Working  blindly  in  the 
intense  heat,  tons  of  water  were  quickly 
thrown  into  the  dark  hold,  but  the  thick 
smoke  continued  to  pour  up.  At  these  lower 
levels  the  air  soon  became  suffocating. 
There  was  no  thought  of  retreat.  The 
pumps  were  run  at  top  pressure.  The  crew 
still  clung  to  the  steep  ladders,  directing  the 
hose  into  the  darkness. 

The  black  smoke  still  continued  to  pour 
from  the  ventilators.  Desperate  attempts 
were  made  to  reach  the  seat  of  the  fire  from 
other  quarters.  Men  descended  to  the  holds 
and  tried  to  work  their  way  by  other  en- 
trances, only  to  be  driven  back  by  the  suf- 
focating heat  and  smoke.  It  was  soon 
found  that  enough  water  had  been  poured 
28 


THROUGH  SMOKE  AND  FLAMES 

into  the  ship  to  drown  the  fire,  had  it  reached 
the  right  place. 

One  passage  leading  to  the  heart  of  the 
fire  still  remained  open,  but  the  road  was  an 
exceedingly  perilous  one.  Since  the  black 
smoke,  despite  the  water  poured  into  the 
ship,  still  rose  from  the  funnel,  it  was  ob- 
vious that  the  fire  was  at  its  base,  or  very 
near  it.  A  hose  had  been  carried  to  the  top 
of  the  ventilator  and  a  continuous  stream  of 
water  poured  down,  but  without  apparent  ef- 
fect. There  remained  only  the  extremely 
hazardous  passage  down  the  ventilator 
through  the  smoke  and  flame.  If  a  man 
could  survive  such  a  trip,  he  would  doubtless 
find  himself  face  to  face  with  the  fire. 

The  seaman  Ridgely  volunteered  to  make 
the  trip.  A  rope  was  fastened  beneath 
his  arms,  leaving  his  arms  free,  and  his 
clothes  were  thoroughly  saturated  with 
water,  as  was  the  rope.  Then  the  sailor 
climbed  into  the  funnel,  feet  first.  In  one 
hand  he  carried  a  hose,  in  the  other  a  fire 
grenade.  Several  of  the  crew  grasped  the 
rope  and  at  a  signal  began  slowly  to  lower 
him.  His  body  slipped  downward;  for  a 
29 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

moment  his  face  remained  above  the  opening 
of  the  funnel,  and  then  disappeared. 

If  the  rope  were  not  burnt  through  or  cut 
by  some  sharp  edge  or  projection  in  the  next 
few  seconds,  it  would  be  possible  to  raise 
the  sailor  once  more  to  the  level  of  the 
deck;  but  no  one  dared  picture  to  himself  the 
condition  of  the  man  after  such  a  trip. 
There  was  the  double  danger  of  suffocating 
from  the  smoke  and  of  being  burnt  by  con- 
tact with  the  heated  metal  of  the  lower  parts 
of  the  ship.  No  one  could  tell  into  what  an 
inferno  he  might  be  descending. 

A  ship's  ventilator,  no  matter  what  its 
length,  acts  as  a  speaking-tube,  carrying  any 
sound  from  its  base  to  the  deck  with  re- 
markable clearness.  At  a  signal,  a  shout  of 
warning,  or  a  knock  on  the  metal  sides  of  the 
funnel,  the  crew  would  instantly  begin  to 
haul  up. 

The  rope  was  steadily  paid  out,  foot  after 
foot,  indicating  that  the  man  was  still  de- 
scending; but  no  sound  reached  the  deck. 
Every  eye  watched  the  taut  rope.  Should  it 
slacken  suddenly  before  he  reached  the  floor 
of  the  engine-room  far  below,  there  would 
30 


THROUGH  SMOKE  AND  FLAMES 

be  little  hope  of  again  seeing  him  alive. 
The  descent  lasted  but  a  few  minutes — 
long  as  it  seemed  to  the  watchers  on  deck — 
when  a  reassuring  shout  from  below  told  the 
watchers  that  he  had  made  the  journey 
through  the  smoke  and  fire  in  safety.  Once 
on  his  feet,  he  directed  the  hose  so  success- 
fully that  in  a  few  minutes  the  fire  was 
flooded  out  and  he  could  make  his  way  to  the 
deck.  In  commending  this  hero  for  his  act 
Secretary  Daniels  praised  him  for  "conspic- 
uous bravery";  but  even  these  glowing  ad- 
jectives scarcely  suffice. 


3i 


VI 
"ABANDON  SHIP" 

WITH  the  order,  "Abandon  ship," 
comes  a  supreme  test  of  discipline. 
As  long  as  a  ship  floats,  no  matter  what  her 
injuries,  there  is  always  hope  of  victory. 
She  may  be  outclassed  and  outfought,  but 
the  tide  of  battle  may  always  change.  A 
lucky  shot  or  a  well  executed  manceuver  may 
turn  the  tables  against  the  enemy.  To  de- 
sert the  ship  ends  every  hope  of  success. 
The  crew  throw  away  their  weapons. 

A  war-ship  is  at  once  a  fort  and  a  fighting 
machine.  No  matter  how  severe  the  attack, 
the  crew  fight  behind  protection,  the  most 
formidable  of  its  kind  science  has  been  able 
to  devise.  The  moment  they  step  from  be- 
hind these  steel  walls  they  are  completely  at 
the  mercy  of  the  smallest  gun  the  enemy  may 
bring  to  bear  on  them.  In  clearing  the 
decks  of  a  battle-ship  for  action,  the  life- 
boats are  removed,  and  if  the  ship  goes  down 

32 


"ABANDON  SHIP" 

suddenly  there  is  little  or  no  time  for  bring- 
ing out  and  launching  the  small  boats. 

The  safety  of  the  steel  walls  and  the  com- 
fort of  the  cabins  are  exchanged  for  the  ex- 
posure of  an  open  boat  or  raft ;  perhaps  even 
this  chance  of  escape  is  gone.  If  the  battle 
occurs  far  from  land  and  assistance,  the  or- 
der to  abandon  ship  is  a  death  threat.  Many 
great  ships  flying  the  Stars  and  Stripes  have 
gone  down  in  storm  or  battle,  and  the  famous 
order  has  been  heard  repeatedly;  but  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  Navy  has  always  stood  the  test. 
In  the  present  war  the  new  methods  of  the 
submarines  has  made  the  sinking  of  ships  a 
commonplace,  but  the  records  contain  no 
story  of  panic  in  such  a  crisis. 

Early  in  the  war  a  converted  yacht  acting 
as  a  despatch  boat  was  sunk  by  a  submarine 
under  peculiar  conditions.  The  craft  had 
been  built  for  grace  and  comfort,  and  its  hull 
offered  little  protection  from  attack.  From 
the  first  moment  she  was  hopelessly  out- 
classed by  the  U-boat.  When  the  torpedo 
designed  to  sink  great  battle-ships  struck  the 
frail  craft,  her  hull  was  literally  torn  to 
pieces  and  she  sank  almost  immediately. 

33 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

So  sudden  was  the  blow  that  many  of  the 
crew,  who  were  asleep  at  the  time,  scarcely 
had  time  to  tumble  on  deck  before  the  water 
swept  over  her.  A  chief  yeoman,  who  was 
sleeping  below  deck  at  the  moment  the  tor- 
pedo struck,  was  one  of  those  awakened  by 
the  impact.  To  be  roused  from  a  deep  sleep 
in  the  middle  of  the  night  and  find  the  water 
rushing  into  the  cabin  is  certainly  a  terrify- 
ing experience.  Without  the  iron  discipline 
of  the  Navy,  such  a  crew  would  doubtless  be 
thrown  into  hopeless  panic. 

The  first  impulse  in  such  an  accident  is,  of 
course,  to  make  a  rush  for  the  decks,  since 
that  way  lies  the  only  hope  of  escape.  While 
the  rest  of  the  crew,  catching  up  their 
clothes,  ran  to  the  companionways,  the  chief 
yeoman  deliberately  remained  below-decks. 
The  lights  had  gone  out,  leaving  the  cabins 
in  darkness.  He  must  therefore  feel  his 
way  through  the  cabins,  not  knowing  which 
plunge  of  the  boat  might  be  its  last. 

Arriving  finally  at  the  Captain's  room,  he 

found  it  empty.     The  Captain  had  been  on 

deck  at  the  moment  of  the  explosion,  and  had 

thought  it  foolhardy  to  try  to  reach  his  cabin. 

34 


"ABANDON  SHIP" 

The  chief  yeoman  wasted  several  priceless 
minutes  in  searching  about  the  dark  room, 
but  finally  secured  the  ship's  papers  and  the 
captain's  war  diary.  There  was  barely  time 
for  him  to  reach  the  deck  before  the  boat 
made  her  last  plunge.  No  life-boats  were  in 
sight.  Wrapping  the  papers  in  his  hand- 
kerchief and  thrusting  them  into  his  shirt, 
the  chief  yeoman  jumped  overboard,  clearing 
the  ship  as  she  sank. 

No  boat  or  raft  of  wreckage  of  any  kind 
was  in  sight.  He  swam  about  the  spot 
where  his  boat  had  gone  down  for  some 
time,  and  finally  chanced  upon  a  piece  of  the 
ship's  air-tank,  to  which  a  sailor  was  cling- 
ing. His  strength  was  almost  gone  from 
the  long  swim  and  the  exposure,  but  his  mate 
succeeded  in  holding  him  on  the  tank.  The 
two  floated  about  in  this  precarious  support 
for  hours  before  they  were  both  rescued  and 
the  ship's  papers  preserved. 


37 


VII 
A  CLOSE  CALL 

WITHOUT  the  aid  of  wireless  electric- 
ity, the  tables  probably  could  not 
have  been  turned  on  the  submarine.  The 
great  fleets  of  scouting  craft  of  every  type 
that  are  constantly  sweeping  above  the  sub- 
marine-infested waters  are  linked  together 
by  these  invisible  waves.  Without  the  wire- 
less they  would  work  separately,  each  keep- 
ing guard  only  over  its  own  prescribed  area. 
At  a  touch  of  the  key  the  widely  scattered 
fleets  become  parts  of  an  organized  machine. 
Let  the  famous  SOS  flash  over  the  seas, 
and  instantly  many  prows  are  speeding  to- 
ward the  ship  in  distress. 

In  October,  1917,  a  Luckenbach  craft  fly- 
ing the  American  flag,  bound  for  a  French 
port,  was  attacked  by  a  German  submarine. 
An  alert  lookout  on  the  steamer  sighted  the 
enemy  craft  close  in  on  the  port  bow.  Be- 
fore he  could  report  the  danger  the  U-boat 
38 


A  CLOSE  call: 

opened  fire.  The  first  shot  barely  missed  the 
bow.  Although  she  carried  an  armed 
guard,  the  plight  of  the  steamer  was  desper- 
ate. The  submarine's  guns  were  the  larger 
and  put  the  American  at  a  disadvantage. 

The  shot  was  the  first  announcement  to  the 
gun  crew  of  the  presence  of  the  enemy.  It 
found  them  at  their  stations,  and  the  rever- 
berations had  scarcely  died  away  before  a 
reply  rang  out.  The  gunners  on  both  the 
submarine  and  the  steamship  maintained  a 
rapid  fire.  The  U-boat,  being  the  faster  and 
more  mobile  craft,  so  manceuvered  that  she 
presented  a  very  elusive  target. 

The  American  Captain  had  lost  no  time 
in  directing  the  wireless  operator  to  send  out 
the  SOS  with  the  full  force  of  his  ap- 
paratus. The  call  for  help  was  thrown  out 
for  hundreds  of  miles  in  all  directions. 
Again  and  again  the  wireless  man  pressed 
the  key,  but  he  listened  in  vain  for  any  re- 
ply. 

The  steamship  was  well  within  the  war 

zone,  where  a  number  of  scouting  craft  of 

various  types  were  known  to  be  on  duty. 

Such  a  call  for  assistance  is  usually  answered 

39 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

within  a  few  seconds.  Even  if  the  craft  that 
responds  be  too  far  away  to  be  of  assistance, 
the  steamer  in  distress  usually  has  the  en- 
couragement of  receiving  some  reply.  The 
Captain  visited  the  wireless  room,  and  with 
the  operator  waited  anxiously  for  a  reply; 
but  minute  after  minute  passed  and  the  air 
remained  silent. 

The  steamship  was  struck  repeatedly. 
Any  shot  now  might  finish  her.  The  con- 
flict could  be  drawn  out  for  some  anxious 
minutes,  but,  unless  speedy  assistance  came 
to  the  steamer,  the  submarine's  victory  was 
certain. 

Preparations  were  made  to  abandon  ship. 
The  boats  were  swung  overboard,  and  the 
crew  and  passengers  took  their  boat  stations, 
prepared  to  face  the  inevitable.  As  a  final 
manceuver,  the  steamship's  course  was  sud- 
denly altered,  and  she  was  sent  full  speed 
ahead  in  a  direction  that  carried  her  away 
from  her  destination.  The  submarine  con- 
tinued to  keep  within  range,  sending  shot 
after  shot. 

Meanwhile,  the  SOS  had  been  picked 
up  by  an  American  destroyer  only  a  few 
40 


A  CLOSE  CALL 

miles  away,  and  the  speedy  craft  was  run- 
ning at  forced  draught  to  her  relief.  The 
destroyer  had  answered  the  call  for  help,  but 
the  receiving  apparatus  aboard  the  steam- 
ship had  been  deranged  by  the  firing,  and 
her  wireless  man  had  no  word  of  her.  At 
frequent  intervals  the  destroyer  sent  out  en- 
couraging messages,  such  as  "Hold  on"  and 
"Stick — we  are  coming";  but  the  steamship 
knew  nothing  about  it. 

At  such  a  time  the  moral  support  of  a 
wireless  message  may  be  more  useful  than  a 
battery.  The  American  not  only  faced  ship- 
wreck but  the  danger  of  the  open  boats  as 
well.  She  was  far  from  land,  and  once  the 
men  abandoned  ship  there  was  no  opportun- 
ity of  signaling. 

The  submarine  had  meanwhile  read  the 
wireless  messages  from  the  destroyer  and 
redoubled  her  efforts  to  finish  the  steamship 
before  help  arrived.  It  was  a  question  of 
minutes.  All  hope  seemed  at  an  end,  when  a 
lookout  on  the  steamship  sighted  a  faint  line 
of  black  smoke  on  the  horizon.  It  grew 
rapidly  until  the  lookout  could  distinguish 
the  American  destroyer  rushing  forward  at 
4i 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

her  utmost  speed.  It  was  not  toward  the 
steamer  she  was  pointed,  however,  but  the 
submarine.  The  German  fire  suddenly 
ceased;  the  U-boat  quickly  submerged  and 
was  not  seen  again. 


42 


VIII 
WIRELESS  DANGERS 

A  GRACEFUL  monument  has  been 
raised  in  New  York  to  wireless  tele- 
graph operators  who  have  died  at  the  post 
of  duty.  In  time  of  danger  no  other  mem- 
ber of  the  crew  is  perhaps  so  important  to 
the  ship's  safety.  His  skill  and  courage  has 
greatly  reduced  the  toll  of  life  in  marine 
disasters.  So  vital  is  his  work  that,  by  an 
unwritten  law,  the  wireless  man  is  usually 
the  last  to  abandon  ship  before  the  Captain 
himself. 

The  list  of  wireless  men  who  have  died  in 
service  is  already  long.  To  choose  almost 
at  random,  the  record  of  Robert  Ausburne 
of  the  U.  S.  transport  Antilles  is  perhaps 
typical.  When  the  Antilles  was  struck, 
Ausburne  and  a  fellow  electrician  named 
MacMahon  were  asleep  in  the  radio-room. 
43 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

Wakened  suddenly  from  his  sleep,  Ausburne, 
without  waiting  to  dress,  rushed  to  his  sta- 
tion. His  companion  ran  on  deck,  to  find 
the  ship  sinking  rapidly  and  the  men  run- 
ning to  their  boat  stations. 

Ausburne  deliberately  turned  his  back  on 
his  chance  of  escape  and  devoted  his  entire 
attention  to  his  apparatus.  It  is  presumed 
that  he  received  some  response  to  his  calls 
for  help,  and  remained  in  the  hope  that  he 
could  direct  some  vessel  to  their  position. 
In  the  few  minutes  of  life  left  to  the  trans- 
port, he  did  not  leave  his  key.  MacMahon, 
finding  that  all  hope  was  past,  made  his  way 
through  the  confusion  of  the  deck  to  the 
wireless-room.  He  found  Ausburne  busily 
engaged  with  his  apparatus,  his  back  turned 
to  the  deck  and  safety.  Even  then  he  re- 
fused to  leave  his  key,  and,  with  a  cheery 
"Good-by,  Mac,"  continued  to  send  out  the 
SOS.  He  was  not  seen  again,  and  doubt- 
less remained  valiantly  at  his  post  until  the 
ship  sank. 

This  war  has  made  many  demands  upon 
the  wireless  man.     He  must  not  only  be  a 
skilful  operator  in  sending  and  receiving,  but 
44 


WIRELESS  DANGERS 

he  must  elude  the  pitfalls  that  wireless  men 
of  the  enemy  forces  are  constantly  laying  for 
him:  for  the  German  operators  show  an 
amazing  and  quite  shameless  ingenuity  in 
sending  decoy  messages.  Under  the  guise 
of  a  call  for  help  or  a  word  of  encourage- 
ment, every  effort  is  made  to  trap  the  opera- 
tor into  betraying  his  position  or  the  name  of 
his  ship. 

So  common  have  these  wireless  tricks  be- 
come that  no  wireless  message  is  now  sent 
without  the  authority  of  the  Captain.  The 
wireless  man  "listens  in"  day  and  night,  and 
picks  up  much  valuable  information;  but  he 
is  not  allowed  to  transmit.  One  of  the  com- 
monest tricks  is  for  the  enemy,  a  submarine 
or  perhaps  a  land  station,  to  ask  if  the  ship 
will  kindly  transmit  a  message  for  them  to 
the  shore.  Under  ordinary  conditions,  any 
wireless  man  would  willingly  agree  to  do 
this.  Should  he  reply,  the  enemy  would 
know  at  once  that  there  was  a  vessel  within 
reach  and  would  start  for  it  without  delay. 

Another  plan  is  for  an  enemy  operator  to 
send  out  an  identification  code  that  is  not  to 
be  found  in  the  code  books.  If  there  is  a 
45 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

reply  it  will  be  known,  of  course,  that  a  ship 
is  within  receiving  distance.  It  is  the  cus- 
tom for  a  merchant-ship,  on  approaching  the 
shores  of  France  or  England,  to  send  a  mes- 
sage to  her  owners  in  her  private  code.  If 
this  ship  had  been  so  foolish  as  to  reply  to 
any  of  the  decoy  questions,  the  enemy  could 
identify  her  on  hearing  her  a  second  time, 
and  would  know  her  relative  position.  It 
is  also  possible  to  calculate  from  the  strength 
of  the  wireless  waves  the  relative  position  of 
a  ship,  and  even  the  direction  from  which 
these  waves  come. 

The  wireless  man  must  be  suspicious  of 
every  call,  no  matter  how  friendly  it  may  ap- 
pear to  be.  A  message  may  even  be  received 
apparently  warning  of  the  presence  of  sub- 
marines in  the  neighborhood.  In  the  mid- 
dle of  a  sentence  it  may  be  interrupted,  or 
some  word  badly  garbled,  in  the  hope  of 
arousing  the  wireless  man's  curiosity  and 
leading  him  to  ask  a  question.  The  first  dot 
or  dash  gives  the  enemy  the  information  he 
is  seeking.  The  high-powered  stations  also 
take  a  hand  in  this  deception.  Therefore, 
even  when  an  S  O  S  is  heard  from  some 
46 


WIRELESS  DANGERS 

friendly  ship  in  danger,  the  wireless  operator 
makes  absolutely  sure  of  her  identity  before 
answering. 

Sometimes  a  fake  call  for  help  will  be 
sent  out  by  the  Germans  over  and  over  again 
for  many  hours  in  the  hope  of  getting  some 
reply  that  will  betray  the  position  of  his  prey. 
The  strain  of  listening  day  and  night  tells  on 
the  strongest  nerves.  But  let  the  wireless 
man  make  a  false  move — perhaps  only  a 
touch  of  the  key — and  the  alert  enemy  will 
be  instantly  headed  for  him,  and  the  ship  will 
meet  the  fate  of  the  Antilles. 


47 


IX 
HIS  LAST  WORDS 

THE  first  American  officer  to  lose  his  life 
in  the  present  war  will  be  long  remem- 
bered. It  is  not  the  mere  accident  of  his 
being  the  first  officer  to  die  that  distinguishes 
him.  Like  many  others,  he  displayed  a 
courage  that  is  above  praise.  His  last  mo- 
ments are  especially  remarkable  because  of 
the  serenity  with  which  he  faced  death. 

On  April  17,  19 17,  the  American  oil  tanker 
Vacuum  was  torpedoed  without  warning  by 
a  German  submarine,  and  sank  in  two  min- 
utes. The  Vacuum  carried  an  armed  guard 
officered  by  Lieutenant  C.  C.  Thomas.  The 
day  was  clear  but  cold,  and  the  sea  had  not 
yet   moderated  its   winter   temperature. 

The  blow  came  without  warning.  When 
the  wake  of  the  torpedo  was  observed,  only 
a  few  seconds  remained  before  the  impact. 
There  was  no  time  to  lower  boats,  much  less 
to  manceuver  the  ship  to  avoid  the  blow.  As 
48 


HIS  LAST  WORDS 

our  sailors  have  become  more  familiar  with 
submarines  they  have  naturally  gained  in 
confidence.  But  in  this  attack  the  Ameri- 
can gunners  faced  a  new  peril  under  the 
most  trying  circumstances. 

The  explosion  following  the  impact  threw 
two  men  overboard,  one  of  whom  was 
Lieutenant  Thomas.  On  seeing  the  torpedo 
approach,  Thomas  had  grasped  an  ax  and 
dashed  toward  one  of  the  boats.  He  real- 
ized that  there  was  no  time  for  lowering  it  to 
the  water — every  second  must  be  made  to 
count.  He  was  chopping  the  ropes  that  held 
the  boat  when  the  concussion  threw  him  and 
most  of  the  gun  crew  into  the  sea.  His  ef- 
forts had  not  been  useless,  however,  and  in 
the  two  minutes  left  before  the  Vacuum  took 
her  final  plunge  others  of  the  crew  succeeded 
in  loosening  the  boat  and  getting  her  over- 
side. 

But  for  the  deathly  chill  of  the  water, 
most  of  the  crew  would  probably  have  been 
saved.  The  sea  was  very  rough  and  a  bit- 
ter wind  blew  from  the  north.  The  work 
of  picking  up  the  crew  proceeded  slowly.  It 
was  found  very  difficult  to  keep  the  boat  from 
49 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

being  overturned  by  the  high  seas.  Some 
time  elapsed  before  the  boat  chanced  upon 
Lieutenant  Thomas.  He  was  already  too 
weak  from  exposure  to  help  himself,  and  had 
to  be  lifted  into  the  boat. 

The  boat  continued  to  row  about  the  point 
where  the  Vacuum  had  gone  down.  It  was 
a  dangerous  position,  and  a  wave  soon  struck 
and  overturned  it,  throwing  the  crew  into  the 
icy  sea.  The  sailors,  though  numb  from 
the  cold,  succeeded  in  righting  the  boat,  and 
began  once  more  the  perilous  work  of  pick- 
ing up  the  men.  Even  now  the  men  in  the 
boat  might  have  saved  themselves;  but,  de- 
spite the  warning,  they  persisted  in  cruising 
about  the  scene  of  the  wreck. 

A  few  minutes  later  the  boat  was  upset  a 
second  time,  and  the  men  were  again  thrown 
into  the  water.  Strong  and  vigorous  as  the 
men  were,  the  second  icy  bath  proved  too 
much  for  their  strength.  Four  of  them 
were  drowned  in  the  new  accident;  several 
others  died  soon  after  from  exposure;  and 
of  the  fourteen  men  picked  up  by  the  boat 
eleven,  including  Lieutenant  Thomas,  died 
50 


HIS  LAST  WORDS 

from  the  cold.  Their  bodies  were  swept 
overboard. 

When  Thomas  was  picked  up  the  second 
time  he  was  still  conscious,  but  realized  that 
his  end  was  very  near.  The  scene  was  one 
to  daunt  the  strongest  spirit — the  open  boat 
filled  with  dying  men,  the  waters  dotted  with 
the  bodies  of  his  dead  comrades.  A  sailor 
bent  over  the  officer  to  shield  him  from  the 
wind.  Thomas  thanked  him,  and  then  with 
an  effort  made  a  last  request:  "See  if  you 
can  find  my  wife's  picture.  I  had  it  in  my 
blouse." 

The  next  day,  when  a  life-boat  from  the 
Vacuum  was  picked  up,  but  three  survivors 
were  found  of  the  eighteen  men  originally  in 
the  boat. 


5i 


X 

FIRE  AT  SEA 

WHAT  alarm  is  most  feared  at  sea? 
The  greatest  terror  of  all  men  who 
go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships  is  doubtless  that 
of  fire.  The  boundaries  of  the  largest  ships 
are  so  confined  that  any  blaze  quickly  endan- 
gers the  whole  ship.  So  much  of  the  ship's 
material  must  be  inflammable,  and  the  ar- 
rangement of  the  cabins  and  passageways  is 
so  intricate,  that  the  crew  fight  at  a  great 
disadvantage.  The  danger  of  collision 
comes  mainly  with  thick  weather  when  the 
sea  is  smooth.  Fire  may  break  out  at  any 
moment  of  the  day  or  night,  perhaps  when 
the  sea  is  roughest,  leaving  the  crew,  once 
the  fire  has  gained  the  upper  hand,  without 
retreat. 

With  the  passing  of  the  wooden  ships  the 
fire  menace  was  brought  under  better  con- 
trol. The  steel  hull  and  framework  offered 
protection  against  the  hottest  flames,  and  at 

52 


FIRE  AT  SEA 

the  worst  gained  priceless  time  for  the  crew. 
Many  marvelous  devices  have  been  devised 
to  assist  in  the  fight  against  this  ancient 
enemy. 

An  arrangement  of  electric  signals  may 
connect  every  corner  of  the  ship  with  the 
bridge,  so  that  a  rise  in  temperature,  meas- 
ured by  a  delicate  thermometer,  spreads  the 
alarm  automatically.  The  holds  and  cabins 
are  equipped,  in  some  vessels,  with  sprin- 
kling devices,  which  are  turned  on  auto- 
matically as  the  temperature  rises.  Many 
ships,  again,  are  supplied  with  water  piping 
like  that  of  a  city,  which  may  be  tapped  at 
any  point  while  wTater  pressure  is  constantly 
maintained. 

Aboard  a  war-ship  the  danger  of  fire  is 
increased.  The  great  fabric  is  made  almost 
wholly  of  steel,  but  the  presence  of  great 
stores  of  explosives  is  a  constant  menace. 
Fire-alarm  systems  and  fire-fighting  ma- 
chinery may  be  multiplied,  but  in  time  of 
danger  the  last  dependency  is  the  alert  and 
fearless  seaman.  The  naval  authorities  are 
especially  quick  to  recognize  and  reward  acts 
of  bravery  in  fighting  fire. 

55 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

An  American  seaman  recently  fought 
single-handed  a  very  stubborn  fire,  saving 
not  only  his  own  vessel,  but  three  other  ships 
in  the  vicinity.  The  entire  credit  for  the 
exploit  was  given  to  Frank  Marsh,  a  machin- 
ist of  the  second  class,  aboard  one  of  our 
submarine-chasers.  Marsh  had  enlisted  a 
short  time  before.  His  feat  was  especially 
significant,  since  it  showed  the  kind  of  mate- 
rial the  Navy  can  count  upon  in  its  newly 
enlisted  men. 

The  fire  broke  out  suddenly  in  the  engine- 
room,  and,  feeding  on  the  oil-saturated  ma- 
terial, spread  with  alarming  rapidity.  Be- 
fore the  hose  could  be  adjusted  the  flames 
had  leaped  to  the  walls  of  the  cabin.  The 
engine-room  force  was  completely  routed. 
The  call  to  fire  quarters  brought  the  men  to 
their  posts,  but  the  heat  and  the  gas  fumes 
were  unbearable.  For  several  minutes  the 
men  continued  to  work  blindly;  then,  believ- 
ing the  work  impossible,  made  a  rush  for  the 
upper  deck. 

Left  to  itself,  the  fire  quickly  gained  head- 
way. The  engine-room  of  a  submarine- 
chaser  is  large  in  proportion  to  its  size.     A 

56 


FIRE  AT  SEA 

blow  amidships  from  a  torpedo  or  by  colli- 
sion of  any  kind  is  usually  fatal,  since  a  hole 
at  this  point  floods  the  room,  and  the  ship's 
bulkheads  can  do  little  to  keep  her  afloat. 
With  the  engine-room  ablaze  the  situation  is 
almost  hopeless. 

The  boats  were  being  made  ready,  when 
Marsh  volunteered  to  go  below  alone  to  fight 
the  fire.  As  he  disappeared  his  friends 
thought  they  saw  him  for  the  last  time. 
Just  what  happened  amid  the  flames  of  the 
engine-room  Marsh  alone  could  tell,  and 
since  he  is  a  modest  man  the  true  story  can 
only  be  guessed  at.  Without  assistance  he 
soon  had  the  fire  under  control. 

Marsh  had  just  completed  his  work  and 
had  reached  the  deck,  when  dense  black 
smoke  was  observed  coming  from  the  base 
of  the  starboard  engine.  The  crew  learned 
afterward  that  the  oil  had  become  ignited. 
The  fire  was  extremely  difficult  to  reach.  It 
was  found  useless  to  get  a  stream  of  water 
to  it  through  the  portholes. 

An  attempt  was  made  to  reach  it  through 
the  skylight,  but  without  success.  Recog- 
nizing the  peril,  Marsh  returned  voluntarily 

57 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

to  the  engine-room,  and,  using  sea  water, 
succeeded  in  putting  out  the  fire  a  second 
time.  In  commending  Marsh  for  bravery 
Secretary  Daniels  said  that  his  work  was 
especially  meritorious,  since  it  had  not  only 
certainly  saved  the  destroyer,  but  three  other 
craft  in  the  vicinity. 

In  facing  such  dangers,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  the  sailor  is  well  aware  of  the  risk 
he  is  taking.  He  does  not  rush  blindly  into 
danger,  but  from  long  experience  he  is  en- 
abled to  measure  his  chances  with  a  prac- 
tised eye.  The  loss  of  the  two  water-tend- 
ers in  a  fire  on  the  U.  S.  S.  Burrows  is 
typical. 

Fire  had  broken  out  below-decks  on  the 
Burrows  in  a  particularly  inaccessible  point. 
The  two  water-tenders,  Charles  Bourke  and 
Martin  Callahan,  volunteered  to  go  down  to 
it.  Knowing  the  ship  as  they  did,  both  men 
fully  realized  their  danger  in  remaining  in 
such  a  position.  Both  men  voluntarily 
abandoned  all  hope  of  escape  in  staying  be- 
low. In  the  suffocating  heat  of  the  fire- 
room  the  men  knew  that  only  a  few  minutes 
58 


FIRE  AT  SEA 

of  life  remained  to  them;  but  they  made  no 
effort  to  escape.  The  men  were  old  seamen, 
long  in  service. 


59 


XI 
HIS  GRADUATE  COURSE 

MANY  of  our  sailors  have  entered  serv- 
ice directly  from  the  schools  and  col- 
leges. An  interesting  experiment  is  thus 
made  possible  in  testing  the  efficiency  of  the 
American  school-boy.  General  von  Hinden- 
burg  has  spoken  disparagingly  of  the  "un- 
trained louts"  of  America,  whom  he  prophe- 
sied would  turn  and  run  once  a  gun  was 
pointed  at  them.  There  is,  of  course,  a 
wealth  of  evidence  to  confute  this  hopeful 
German  outlook.  Every  reader  of  this  page 
will  doubtless  have  some  relative  or  friend 
who  fails  to  fit  this  description.  It  is  inter- 
esting to  find  a  large  proportion  of  the  men 
mentioned  for  conspicuous  bravery  among 
the  recent  school-boys. 

There  is  the  case  of  Henry  W.  Robinson, 
the  hero  of  submarine-chaser  121.     Robin- 
son is  a  graduate  of  the  Stevens  Institute, 
60 


HIS  GRADUATE  COURSE 

and  later  took  a  course  in  the  Naval  School 
at  Columbia  University.  He  enlisted  on 
May  2,  19 1 7,  and  within  a  few  months  had 
seen  active  service  on  three  submarine- 
chasers. 

He  rose  rapidly,  and  was  soon  placed  in 
charge  of  the  engine-room  of  the  chaser  121, 
with  the  rank  of  Chief  Petty  Officer.  In 
January,  191 8, — and  the  date  shows  how 
quickly  our  naval  officers  are  turned  out, — 
a  hurry  call  was  received  for  all  submarine- 
chasers  to  put  to  sea. 

The  submarine-chaser  121  was  well  out  to 
sea,  far  from  any  assistance,  when  an  ugly 
fire  broke  out  in  the  engine-room.  The  en- 
gine had  back-fired,  and  some  gasolene  in 
the  bilge  was  ignited,  threatening  the  entire 
boat.  A  fire  on  so  small  a  craft  is  extremely 
dangerous.  The  stores  of  gasolene  and 
ammunition  must  necessarily  lie  so  close  that 
a  few  seconds  may  determine  the  fate  of  the 
craft  and  all  on  board.  The  life  of  the  crew 
depends  upon  the  quickness  of  her  officers 
and  men. 

Robinson  rushed  to  the  engine-room,  to 
find  that  the  gasolene  had  flashed  up  and  the 
61 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

flames  were  licking'  the  floor  and  walls. 
While  the  crew  ran  to  safety,  Robinson 
stood  his  ground.  He  fought  against  terri- 
fying odds.  The  flames  soon  reached  a  can 
of  gasolene,  which  went  off  with  a  roar,  and 
a  moment  later  spread  to  Robinson's  clothes. 

The  situation  might  have  driven  the 
strongest  man  to  panic.  His  uniform  was 
saturated  with  gasolene.  The  heat  in  the 
narrow  hold  was  suffocating.  The  only 
means  of  escape  was  by  a  steep  ladder  lead- 
ing to  the  deck.  To  abandon  the  engine- 
room  meant  the  loss  of  the  ship. 

Robinson  stood  his  ground,  calculating 
chances  with  a  skilful  eye.  Making  his  way 
to  a  rack  of  hand  grenades,  he  swung  the 
globes  with  a  sure  aim  at  the  burning  floor 
and  walls.  Several  grenades  were  required, 
but  the  fire  on  the  floor  and  walls  was  finally 
put  out.  The  oil-can,  however,  was  still 
aflame,  and  Robinson's  clothes  were  burn- 
ing in  several  places. 

First  making  sure  that  the  fire  in  the  room 
was  out,  Robinson  picked  up  the  burning  oil- 
can and  started  for  the  deck.  He  was  al- 
ready badly  burned  about  his  neck  and  face. 
62 


HIS  GRADUATE  COURSE 

Struggling  to  the  deck,  he  hurled  the  blazing 
can  overboard,  and  himself  plunged  into  the 
sea.  It  was  the  quickest  and  safest  method 
of  putting  out  the  fire  on  his  burning  cloth- 
ing, and  he  had  just  enough  strength  left  to 
carry  it  out.  Some  minutes  later  he  was 
picked  up  in  a  semi-conscious  condition  by 
a  tug-boat,  and  taken  ashore  for  treatment. 
When  he  was  dismissed  from  the  hospital, 
Robinson's  face  was  still  badly  disfigured 
by  burns,  a  part  of  one  ear  was  gone,  and 
two  new  eyelids  had  been  grafted  on  the  ones 
he  had  lost  in  the  engine-room.  From  the 
hospital  he  was  ordered  to  report  to  Annap- 
olis, where  he  was  examined  for  promotion 
to  Ensign. 


63 


PART  II 
WITH  THE  MERCHANT  FLEET 


XII 
ROUTINE  WORK 

IN  protecting  our  merchant-ships  through- 
out the  Atlantic  crossing,  the  American 
Navy  is  fighting  on  a  battle  line  three  thou- 
sand miles  in  length.  The  safety  of  our 
great  army  en  route  to  France,  and  the  sup- 
ply of  food  and  ammunition,  depend,  of 
course,  upon  the  uninterrupted  passage  back 
and  forth  of  the  great  merchant  fleets. 
Should  the  line  break  or  communication  be 
seriously  interrupted,  the  lives  of  our  men 
abroad,  even  the  issue  of  the  war,  would  be 
seriously  endangered. 

Only  acts  of  conspicuous  bravery  in  the 
line  of  such  duty  come  to  the  attention  of 
the  public.  To  the  thousands  of  alert,  fear- 
less men  who  guard  these  ships  the  nation 
owes  a  debt  of  gratitude.  On  thousands  of 
voyages  the  crews  must  maintain  the  most 
rigid  discipline:  at  any  moment  the  safety 
67 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

of  the  ship  may  depend  upon  the  alertness 
of  the  lookout.  The  loss  of  a  few  minutes, 
perhaps  even  of  seconds,  in  observing  the 
approach  of  a  U-boat  periscope  or  the  wake 
of  a  torpedo  may  mean  disaster.  In  case  of 
an  actual  conflict  the  issue  may  depend  upon 
the  accuracy  of  a  single  shot. 

Aboard  merchant-ships  tens  of  thousands 
of  men  daily  acquit  themselves  as  heroes. 
This  routine  work,  as  it  may  be  called,  is  the 
severest  possible  test  of  character  and  train- 
ing. The  service  is  largely  filled  with  men 
hastily  recruited  and  trained.  Boys  taken 
from  the  school  and  the  shop  are  fitted  in  a 
few  weeks  or  months  for  this  exacting 
service. 

Men  must  be  found  and  trained  by  tens  of 
thousands  to  supply  the  armed  guards.  It 
is  impossible,  of  course,  to  convoy  all  the 
ships  at  sea,  and  a  great  merchantman,  with 
its  valuable  cargo,  must  be  intrusted  to  a 
handful  of  men  mounting  guard  upon  two 
comparatively  small  guns.  If  a  submarine 
be  encountered,  the  gun  crew  will  find  them- 
selves outnumbered  and  facing  much  heavier 
guns  than  their  own.  The  ships  may  cross 
68 


ROUTINE  WORK 

a  score  of  times  in  safety,  but  the  vigilance 
does  not  relax  for  a  moment.  Hour  after 
hour,  day  and  night,  the  water  on  every  side 
must  be  watched  with  the  most  anxious 
attention. 

While  it  is  known,  in  a  general  way,  that 
great  convoys  of  merchant-ships  are  con- 
stantly crossing  the  Atlantic,  the  layman 
knows  little  of  the  labor  involved  in  such 
voyages.  It  is  common  for  a  fleet  of  as 
many  as  thirty  merchant-ships  to  cross  to- 
gether. The  news  reports  mention  that  they 
are  "heavily  convoyed,"  and  their  safe  ar- 
rival is  taken  as  a  matter  of  course.  To 
guard  a  fleet  of  this  size,  strung  out  over 
miles  of  water,  necessitates  guarding  them 
on  every  side.  A  ring  must  be  thrown  about 
them,  so  to  speak,  and  remain  unbroken 
throughout  the  trip.  Let  a  single  subma- 
rine pass  this  guard,  and  it  would  do  enor- 
mous damage  to  the  fleet.  The  fact  that 
inside  of  a  year  a  million  or  more  soldiers 
were  safely  carried  to  France  will  go  down 
in  history  as  one  of  the  navy's  greatest 
achievements. 

The  discipline  maintained  on  all  merchant- 
69 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

ships  against  the  hour  of  danger  is  no  less 
rigid  than  aboard  a  man  of  war.  The  fre- 
quent boat  and  fire  drills,  the  instruction  in 
the  use  of  life-preservers,  the  suppression  of 
all  lights  at  night,  and  many  other  details  of 
life  aboard  ship  in  these  stirring  times,  are 
controlled  with  military  strictness.  In  a 
few  months  the  life  aboard  ocean  liners  has 
been  completely  transformed.  The  great 
floating  population  on  a  thousand  ships  has 
been  mobilized. 

In  case  of  attack,  the  entire  ship's  com- 
pany will  be  found  ready  to  meet  any  situa- 
tion. The  most  serious  danger  fails  to 
throw  the  ship  into  confusion.  Every  one 
has  been  trained  since  the  first  day  at  sea, 
so  that  no  time  will  be  lost  in  reaching  the 
boats.  However  swiftly  the  blow  may  fall, 
this  discipline  safeguards  the  passengers 
and  prevents  the  panics  common  in  ship- 
wrecks of  the  past.  A  place  is  fixed  in  ad- 
vance for  every  one  on  board,  and,  even  if 
the  ship  must  be  abandoned,  the  people  in  the 
boats  will  still  be  under  discipline. 


70 


i  Illustrating  Service. 

A  400-lb.   Charge   of   Powder   for   a    14-inch   Gun 


XIII 
THE  FIRST  BLOW 

THE  S.S.  Columbia,  the  first  American 
ship  to  be  deliberately  destroyed  by  a 
German  submarine,  was  sunk — and  the  date 
is  significant — in  November,  19 16.  Sailing 
from  Boston  for  French  and  Italian  ports, 
she  carried  1500  horses  and  10,000  tons  of 
steel  and  copper,  with  a  crew  all  told  of  130, 
which  rendered  her  a  very  tempting  target. 
America  had  not  yet  entered  the  war,  but 
the  German  submarine  U-53  had  recently 
made  its  disastrous  raid  off  Newport,  sink- 
ing five  vessels.  There  was  trouble  in  the 
air. 

Carrying  no  armed  guard,  the  Columbia 
was  wholly  defenseless  and  should  have  been 
safe  under  the  international  sea  code.  De- 
spite this  provocation,  our  Government  re- 
fused to  place  naval  guns  and  gunners 
aboard  merchant-ships  until  some  months 
later.  Her  story  may  be  told  here,  never- 
73 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

theless,  for  its  historic  importance  and  the 
inspiring  spirit  of  the  seamen  of  our  mer- 
chant fleets. 

While  loading  at  Boston  a  mysterious 
rumor  spread  along  the  docks  that  the  Co- 
lumbia would  be  torpedoed,  and  several  of 
her  engineers  thereupon  quit  the  ship. 
Their  places  were  quickly  filled  and  the  ship 
cleared  without  incident  for  St.  Nazaire. 
The  voyage  over  was  uneventful,  if  the  ex- 
citement of  running  with  lights  out  through 
submarine-infested  waters  may  be  called 
uneventful. 

On  nearing  the  war  zone,  every  precau- 
tion was  taken.  The  life-boats  were  swung 
outboard  and  fully  equipped  for  an  emer- 
gency, while  the  crew  were  put  through  con- 
stant boat  drills.  Some  miles  off  shore  a 
French  mine  pilot  came  aboard  and  brought 
the  Columbia  through  the  mine  fields  to  the 
safety  of  the  naval  dock  at  St.  Nazaire.  A 
part  of  the  cargo  of  horses  was  unloaded 
here,  a  number  of  French  soldiers  assisting, 
while  a  group  of  German  prisoners  stood  on 
the  docks  to  lead  the  horses  away. 

The  blow  fell  two  days  later,  in  a  storm  at 
74 


THE  FIRST  BLOW 

sea.  The  first  warning  was  the  report  of  a 
cannon,  and  a  few  minutes  later  a  shot 
splashed  in  the  water  on  the  port  bow.  The 
ship  was  stopped,  for  she  was  slow  and  de- 
fenseless. The  Captain  hurried  to  the  wire- 
less booth  and  gave  the  operator  the  ship's 
position,  but  directed  that  it  be  held  back 
for  the  present.  The  submarine  was  now 
sighted  cruising  about  at  a  distance  of  about 
three  miles.  Some  twenty  minutes  later  a 
second  shot  rang  out,  when  the  Captain  or- 
dered that  the  S  O  S  be  sent  out. 

Having  lost  her  seaway,  the  ship  rolled 
violently.  The  waves  swept  her  deck  and 
broke  many  of  the  horse  stalls  and  fittings. 
For  some  anxious  minutes  there  was  no  re- 
sponse to  the  wireless  call  for  help,  but  at 
last  a  reply  came  from  the  Spanish  land  sta- 
tion at  Cape  Finisterre.  The  Columbia's 
wireless  operator  replied  that  a  submarine 
was  cruising  about  and  firing  at  them,  but 
did  not  mention  that  she  was  German,  for 
the  U-boat  was  doubtless  listening  in.  The 
Spaniards  asked  if  there  were  any  boats 
near  enough  to  help  in  case  the  Columbia 
was  torpedoed. 

75 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

It  was  observed  that  the  submarine  was 
flying  a  string  of  flags,  but  the  distance  was 
too  great  for  them  to  be  read.  The  Captain 
of  the  Columbia  now  decided  to  make  a  dash. 
The  wireless  apparatus  was  shut  off,  and 
the  ship,  changing  her  course,  went  ahead 
at  forced  draught.  Nothing  was  seen  of  the 
submarine  for  an  hour,  and  the  crew  were 
beginning  to  breathe  freely  when  the  U-boat 
overtook  them.  Her  guns  were  not  effec- 
tive at  such  long  range,  but  her  wireless 
order  was  peremptory : 

"Stop  your  wireless;  ask  no  questions  or 
I  will  shoot." 

The  sending  apparatus  was  shut  off,  but  it 
was  still  possible  to  receive  messages.  Cape 
Finisterre  evidently  realized  the  situation, 
for  she  now  sent  a  message  suggesting,  if  the 
Columbia  could  not  transmit  a  call,  that  she 
send  a  single  long  dash,  and  they  would 
know  what  had  happened  and  send  a  ship  to 
her  assistance.  The  Germans  meanwhile 
sent  several  such  messages  as  "Where  are 
you  bound?"  "What  is  your  cargo?" 
"Where  bound  from?"  Later  they  ordered 
the  Columbia  to  turn,  and  because  she  did 

76 


> 


THE  FIRST  BLOW 

not  turn  quickly  enough  to  please  them  she 
threatened:     "Turn  at  once  or  I  will  shoot." 

The  night  came  on  and  the  storm  in- 
creased. Perhaps  the  most  trying  part  of 
the  experience  was  the  realization  that  there 
was  help  near  by,  powerless  to  come  to  their 
assistance.  The  submarine  moved  up  to 
within  five  hundred  yards  of  the  Columbia, 
and  all  wireless  sending  was  at  an  end.  An 
English  vessel  in  the  neighborhood  was  now 
heard  calling  Cape  Finisterre.  Later  the 
Spanish  yacht  Giralda  called  repeatedly  to 
know  if  she  should  lend  assistance.  She  ex- 
plained that  she  was  at  Coruna  and  had  been 
sent  by  the  Spanish  Government  to  help  the 
Americans.  Throughout  the  night  Cape 
Finisterre  continued  to  call,  fearing  the 
worst  had  happened. 

When  day  broke  the  submarine  ordered 
by  wireless,  "Come  nearer  and  send  a  boat 
over  to  us";  and  later,  "Send  your  Captain 
over  to  us."  Before  the  Captain  could  leave 
his  ship,  a  boat  arrived  from  the  submarine 
with  a  German  lieutenant  and  eight  sailors, 
who  came  aboard.  One  of  them  was  a  wire- 
less operator. 

79 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

The  moment  they  reached  the  deck  the 
aerial  was  lowered,  while  the  wireless  man 
ran  aft  to  the  wireless  room.  He  carried 
two  large  bombs,  which  he  explained  were 
intended  to  blow  up  the  ship.  The  wireless 
apparatus  was  at  once  dismantled,  and  after- 
ward taken  aboard  the  submarine.  While 
the  wireless  room  was  being  torn  out  the 
German  lieutenant  appeared  in  the  doorway 
and,  pointing  his  pistol  at  the  operator,  said 
gruffly : 

"Don't  you  know  you  shouldn't  use  wire- 
less when  a  submarine  is  around?  We 
should  have  torpedoed  you  then.  I  ought 
to  shoot  you  now." 

The  crew  was  lined  up  on  deck.  They 
were  wearing  life-preservers.  The  Ger- 
mans rilled  a  boat  with  provisions  from  the 
ship's  ice-box  and  with  fresh  water.  It  was 
bitterly  cold,  and  the  men  were  obliged  to 
stand  exposed  to  the  wind,  their  clothing 
drenched  with  the  icy  water.  First  the 
Captain  was  put  in  a  boat  and  taken  to  the 
submarine,  where  he  was  kept  prisoner  for 
many  days  and  finally  landed  in  Spain. 

The  crew  were  at  last  put  in  boats  and 
80 


THE  FIRST  BLOW 

taken  to  a  Norwegian  ship,  the  Balto,  which 
the  Germans  had  previously  captured. 
From  her  deck  they  afterward  watched  the 
sinking  of  the  Columbia.  Two  bombs  were 
exploded,  but  the  staunch  American  craft 
was  not  injured  in  a  vital  part.  Her  old 
crew  watched  for  forty-five  minutes,  but  she 
showed  no  signs  of  sinking.  The  submarine 
then  launched  a  torpedo  at  her,  which  struck 
amidships.  She  began  to  go  down  rapidly. 
Her  after-decks  were  soon  awash,  then  her 
stern  went  down,  while  her  bow  rose  high 
in  the  air.  She  came  up  once,  then  slowly 
settled  and  disappeared. 

The  American  and  Norwegian  crews  were 
obliged  to  witness  several  captures,  and  were 
finally  allowed  to  row  to  the  Spanish  coast, 
and  eventually  found  their  way  to  New 
York. 

The  sinking  of  the  Columbia  deserves  a 
place  in  our  sea  history,  if  only  for  the  spirit 
of  its  Captain  in  fighting  against  hopeless 
odds.  When  forced  to  abandon  his  ship, 
and  not  knowing  what  fate  awaited  him  on 
the  German  submarine,  he  found  words  of 
encouragement  for  his  crew.     As  the  boat 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

carried  him  away  from  his  ship  he  stood  up, 
and,  waving  his  hand  to  his  old  crew,  shouted 
cheerily:  "Good-by,  boys.  I  hope  to  see 
you  again.     Obey  orders." 


82 


XIV 
WITHOUT  WARNING 

THE  first  armed  merchant-ship  to  leave 
New  York,  the  S.S.  Aztec,  sailed  on 
March  18,  1917.  She  was  soon  followed  by 
the  Manchuria,  at  that  time  the  largest  of 
American-built  ships,  and  by  the  famous  St. 
Louis.  It  was  realized  that  the  first  armed 
American  ship  to  venture  into  the  war 
zone  would  be  the  target  for  submarine  at- 
tack. The  German  government  had  made 
very  clear  what  they  purposed  doing  to  any 
ship  flying  the  Stars  and  Stripes  that  was 
so  presumptuous  as  to  attempt  to  defend  her- 
self. 

The  naval  gunners  faced  a  new  situation. 
Their  experience  in  fighting  had  been  gained 
in  the  open,  facing  an  enemy  who  stood  up  to 
fight.  No  one  doubted  the  ability  of  the 
gunners  to  give  a  good  account  of  themselves 
under  any  conditions,  but  they  had  not  then 
83 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

gained  confidence  in  combatting  this  new  sea 
menace.  Every  one  realized  the  great  dis- 
advantage under  which  they  must  fight  in 
this  first  encounter,  and  the  country  waited 
anxiously  for  word  of  her. 

One  March  morning  at  about  six  o'clock  a 
gunner  on  lookout  sighted  a  submarine  fol- 
lowing the  ship  at  a  considerable  distance. 
The  guns  were  manned  and  trained  on  the 
enemy;  but,  observing  these  preparations, 
the  U-boat  quickly  submerged,  and  no  more 
was  seen  of  her.  On  the  evening  of  the 
same  day  the  Aztec  sighted  another  subma- 
rine. She  was  running  at  full  speed  with 
lights  out  when  the  blow  fell. 

The  work  of  darkening  ship  and  blinding 
every  possible  gleam  of  light  aboard  is  more 
difficult  than  it  appears.  The  great  hull  is 
likely  to  leak  light  at  a  hundred  different 
points.  With  the  best  intention  in  the 
world,  some  one  may  move  the  curtain  from 
a  port-hole,  perhaps  only  for  an  instant,  or 
a  door  may  be  opened  that  will  give  the  Ger- 
mans the  clue  they  are  watching  for.  A 
great  ship  was  once  lost  because  a  ship's 
printer,  working  very  late  at  night,  opened 
84 


WITHOUT  WARNING 

his  port  near  the  water  for  a  breath  of  fresh 
air.  The  Germans  afterward  explained 
that  this  gleam  of  light  enabled  them  to  aim 
their  torpedo. 

At  about  nine-thirty  in  the  evening  the 
Chief  Engineer  of  the  Aztec  had  noticed  that 
some  light  escaped  from  the  port  of  the 
wireless  cabin,  and  went  aft  to  warn  the 
operator.  The  wireless  man  was  at  work 
at  his  station  at  the  time,  and,  putting  down 
his  receiver,  went  outside  to  examine  it.  It 
was  raining  hard  and  a  gusty  wind  lashed 
the  deck.  The  light  was  darkened,  and  the 
wireless  operator,  noticing  the  chief  gunner 
standing  at  the  rail,  crossed  the  deck  to  join 
him.  Both  men  stood  looking  down  into  the 
water  for  a  moment,  when  the  wireless  man 
made  a  cup  of  his  hand  and,  raising  his  voice 
above  the  wind,  asked  the  gunner  if  he  saw 
anything. 

Before  there  was  time  for  an  answer,  a 
torpedo  struck  the  ship's  side  directly  below 
them.  The  force  of  the  explosion  threw  the 
gunner  overboard,  and  nothing  was  again 
seen  of  him.  Another  man  standing  near 
by  had  his  head  completely  severed  from  his 
85 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

body  by  the  explosion.  The  wireless  man 
was  struck  by  a  piece  of  flying  wreckage, 
which  tore  away  the  leg  of  his  trousers,  in- 
flicted a  wound  of  fourteen  inches  in  length, 
and  hurled  him  a  distance  of  twenty-five  feet 
down  the  deck. 

The  wireless  operator,  who  brought  the 
story  ashore,  probably  lay  unconscious  for 
several  minutes.  When  he  regained  con- 
sciousness he  ran  to  the  wireless  room,  only 
to  find  it  completely  wrecked.  The  last 
chance  of  calling  for  help  was  gone.  The 
ship's  deck  was  quite  dark,  and  the  driving 
rain  made  it  impossible  to  see  an  object  a 
few  feet  away.  On  running  out  on  the  deck, 
the  wireless  man  found  the  Naval  Lieuten- 
ant and  the  Captain  calmly  giving  orders. 
Only  a  minute  or  two  of  life  remained  for 
the  ship,  but  they  were  used  to  the  best 
advantage. 

A  life-boat  was  lowered,  but  before  it 
could  reach  the  water  a  great  wave  broke  it 
against  the  ship's  side,  and  the  seven  men 
who  manned  her  were  thrown  into  the  sea. 
A  second  boat  was  filled,  successfully  low- 
ered, and  disappeared  in  the  darkness. 
86 


WITHOUT  WARNING 

The  skill  and  fearlessness  of  a  boatswain's 
mate,  John  Eopolucci,  was  later  especially 
commended.  Eopolucci  had  stood  by  his 
gun  until  it  was  out  of  commission,  when 
he  was  ordered  to  assist  with  the  life-boats. 
He  worked  desperately  helping  to  lower  the 
boats  and  get  them  away,  standing  calmly  at 
his  station  while  others  escaped.  While 
struggling  with  one  of  the  life-boats  he  was 
thrown  into  the  water  and  lost.  Eopolucci 
was  the  first  enlisted  man  of  the  Navy  to  lose 
his  life.  He  had  served  with  credit  for 
eight  years,  and  reenlisted  in  1915- 

The  Aztec  sank  with  terrifying  rapidity. 
A  few  seconds  more  threatened  to  bring  the 
last  plunge.  The  gunners'  boat  was  now 
made  ready.  The  naval  officer  remained  on 
deck,  directing  the  lowering  of  the  boat. 
No  one  was  left  on  board  except  the  Captain, 
the  Naval  Lieutenant,  and  the  wireless  man. 

The  ship's  discipline  was  observed  until 
the  end.  The  Captain  finally  ordered  the 
operator  to  abandon  ship,  and  when  he  had 
succeeded  in  leaping  from  the  swinging  deck 
to  the  boat  the  Captain  and  then  the  Naval 
Lieutenant  followed  him.  The  boat  had 
89 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

only  succeeded  in  gaining  a  hundred  yards 
from  the  ship  when  she  slid  beneath  the  sur- 
face. The  top  of  her  funnel  disappeared  in 
less  than  seven  minutes  after  she  was  struck. 

In  the  intense  darkness  of  the  storm  no 
lights  were  visible,  and  the  boat  floundered 
about  in  the  heavy  sea  for  five  hours,  when 
a  French  boat  was  sighted.  The  crew  fired 
their  pistols  to  attract  its  attention,  but  the 
sound  failed  to  carry  against  the  wind.  The 
Lieutenant  then  lighted  a  Coston  distress 
signal,  which  in  his  foresight  he  had  found 
time  to  save  from  the  ship,  and  the  boat  at 
last  turned  toward  them.  She  proved  to  be 
a  French  patrol  boat  very  happily  named  the 
Jeanne  d'Arc.  The  French  officers  helped 
our  men  aboard  and  made  them  welcome, 
sharing  their  clothing  and  warm  quarters. 

Of  the  Aztec's  crew  of  thirty-six  men,  but 
six  were  rescued. 

As  an  especial  mark  of  respect,  Secretary 
and  Mrs.  Daniels  called  upon  Mrs.  Eopo- 
lucci,  the  widowed  mother  of  the  sailor,  to 
express  their  sympathy.  The  interest  they 
would  naturally  take  in  the  first  member  of 
America's  fighting  forces  to  die  in  the  war 
90 


WITHOUT  WARNING 

was  heightened  by  the  fact  that  Eopolucci 
was  for  two  years  one  of  the  crew  of  the 
Dolphin,  on  which  the  Secretary  and  his 
wife  had  made  frequent  trips. 

Mrs.  Daniels'  visit  was  the  second  she  had 
paid  to  this  home.  The  previous  Saturday 
afternoon  she  and  Mrs.  William  D.  Leahy, 
wife  of  the  commander  of  the  U.  S.  S. 
Dolphin,  had  called  on  Mrs.  Eopolucci;  and 
later  Mrs.  Leahy  sent  a  bouquet  of  Easter 
lilies. 


9i 


XV 

THE  "SILVER  SHELL" 

FROM  the  first,  no  one  doubted  the  ability 
of  the  American  sailor  to  down  the  Ger- 
man submarine.  The  stirring  victory  of  the 
Silver  Shell  on  May  30,  191 7,  closely  fol- 
lowing America's  entrance  into  the  war,  re- 
assured us.  The  Silver  Shell  was  only  a 
tanker — the  last  ship  in  the  world,  it  would 
seem,  to  be  pitted  successfully  against  a  Ger- 
man super-submarine.  But  she  carried  two 
four-inch  guns  and  an  armed  guard,  lent  for 
the  occasion  by  the  United  States  Navy'. 

The  voyage  from  an  American  port  to 
Marseilles  promised  at  that  time  to  be  un- 
eventful. It  was  not  thought  that  the  south- 
ern ship  lanes  were  seriously  threatened. 
Even  in  mid-Atlantic,  however,  the  lookout 
was  not  allowed  to  relax  its  vigilance. 

The  bulky  tanker  was,  of  course,  at  a 
great  disadvantage  in  this  game  of  hide-and- 
seek  with  the  submarines,  since  she  offered 
92 


THE  "SILVER  SHELL" 

a  distinct  target.  At  three  o'clock  one  morn- 
ing, a  thousand  miles  off  shore,  a  submarine 
was  sighted  so  close  in  that  the  throb  of  her 
engines  could  be  distinctly  heard.  A  mo- 
ment later  the  Silver  Shell  swept  past  within 
one  hundred  feet  of  the  enemy. 

The  submarine  was  moving  on  the  surface 
of  the  water,  while  her  crew  were  seen  to  be 
busied  charging  her  batteries,  probably  for 
the  day's  run.  Clearly  the  German  lookout 
had  been  caught  napping,  although  the  ad- 
vantage for  observation  had  been  all  on  his 
side.  The  submarine  made  no  attempt  to 
give  chase.  Before  the  after  gun  of  the 
Silver  Shell  could  be  trained  on  the  subma- 
rine, she  was  swallowed  up  in  the  darkness. 

Farther  on,  another  grim  reminder  of  the 
danger  of  the  U-boats  was  encountered.  A 
wooden  ship  was  sighted  floating  bottom  up. 
A  gaping  wound  in  her  side,  obviously  the 
work  of  a  torpedo,  told  her  story — or  all,  at 
least,  that  the  world  was  ever  to  learn. 
Floating  about  the  wreck  was  an  empty  life- 
boat and  a  few  life-preservers  with  other 
wreckage. 

On  the  voyage  across  sixteen  warnings  of 
93 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

the  presence  of  submarines  were  picked  up 
by  the  ship's  wireless,  of  which  twelve  re- 
ported submarines  in  the  Mediterranean. 
As  the  Silver  Shell  approached  these  his- 
toric waters,  the  nervous  tension  increased. 
A  flotilla  of  undersea  craft  doubtless  awaited 
her  coming-.  The  tanker  had  reached  a 
point  a  day  and  a  half  steaming  from  Mar- 
seilles, when  on  May  30 — and  the  date  is 
historic — she  was  sighted  by  an  enemy  craft. 
Evidently  the  submarine  had  news  of  her 
approach  and  had  lain  in  wait  for  her. 

When  the  alarm  was  sounded,  the  subma- 
rine was  observed  off  the  Silver  Shell's  star- 
board bow.  She  was  one  of  the  largest 
types  of  her  class,  measuring  more  than 
three  hundred  feet  in  length.  The  long 
awaited  moment  had  arrived.  Working  at 
top  speed,  but  without  confusion,  the  crew 
went  through  their  life-boat  drill  made  fa- 
miliar by  constant  practice.  The  boats  were 
made  ready  to  lower  into  the  water,  and  the 
entire  ship's  company  buckled  on  their  life- 
belts. 

So  quickly  had  the  drill  been  carried  out 
that  the  bundles  containing  the  valuables 
94 


THE  "SILVER  SHELL" 

were  being  tumbled  into  the  life-boats  by  the 
time  the  first  shot  was  fired  by  the  German. 
It  exploded  about  a  hundred  yards  short  of 
the  ship.  A  second  shot  fired  a  moment 
later  did  better,  just  missing  the  wireless 
cabin,  and,  passing  over  the  ship,  struck  the 
water  just  ahead. 

A  string  of  code  flags  fluttering  from  the 
German  ship  had  meanwhile  been  deci- 
phered. It  ordered  the  Silver  Shell  to  haul 
down  the  American  flag  and  wait  until  the 
Germans  came  aboard.  By  way  of  reply, 
the  Chief  of  Turret,  W.  J.  Clark,  opened  on 
the  submarine  with  the  four-inch  aft  gun. 

For  the  first  few  shots  the  range  was  wide ; 
but  this  was  quickly  observed  and  the  ex- 
treme elevation  pin  of  the  gun  was  knocked 
out,  giving  the  gun  about  forty  degrees. 
The  American  shells  were  seen  to  drop  about 
the  submarine  with  terrifying  accuracy. 

Against  the  tanker's  battery  of  four-inch 
guns  the  Germans  brought  to  bear  two  five- 
inch  guns.  By  all  the  rules  of  the  game  the 
Germans  had  the  advantage,  and  for  a  time 
they  clearly  outshot  the  Silver  Shell.  Sev- 
eral shells  burst  about  the  tanker.  One 
95 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

missed  the  cabin  by  a  short  two  feet.  The 
roar  of  the  guns  and  the  explosions  were 
deafening.  The  range  was  now  under  3000 
yards. 

Not  the  least  difficult  post,  meanwhile,  was 
that  of  the  wireless  operator.  Throughout 
the  engagement  he  never  left  his  key.  His 
assistant  buckled  a  life-belt  about  him  as  he 
worked.  Every  explosion  now  knocked  the 
delicate  radio  apparatus  out  of  adjustment. 
A  call  for  help  had  been  thrown  broadcast 
over  the  waters  of  the  Mediterranean.  A 
vessel  asked  in  Spanish,  "What  vessel  is  that 
asking  for  help?"  and  repeated  the  query 
until  it  seemed  that  she  was  deliberately 
interfering.  Finally  the  station  at  Algiers 
answered.  Her  message  read,  "Help  thirty- 
five  miles  northwest,  gunboat  FQ." 

A  few  moments  later  the  Silver  Shell  suc- 
ceeded in  picking  up  the  gunboat  FQ,  and 
received  the  welcome  message,  "Coming  as 
fast  as  possible." 

Under  normal  conditions  the  Silver  Shell 
had  never  been  able  to  make  more  than 
eleven  knots  an  hour.  In  response  to  a  des- 
perate demand  for  speed,  she  now  crept  up 
96 


THE  "SILVER  SHELL" 

to  a  perilous  fourteen.  Her  safety-valve 
had  been  screwed  down.  It  soon  became 
clear,  however,  that  the  enemy  held  re- 
sources of  speed  in  reserve,  for  the  stretch 
of  sea  that  separated  them  was  steadily  nar- 
rowed. The  submarine  could  be  clearly 
seen  in  the  wake.  She  made  very  heavy 
weather  of  it.  Her  decks  were  constantly 
swept  by  the  head  seas,  so  that  her  gun  crews 
were  buried  in  water  to  their  waists.  But 
between  the  intervals  of  every  plunge  she 
fired,  and  the  shells  came  with  amazing  reg- 
ularity every  ten  seconds. 

It  was  a  very  daunting  business  to  watch 
the  firing  of  the  gun  that  might  be  hurling 
death  and  destruction.  There  would  be  a 
flash,  and  then  for  ten  breathless  seconds 
the  crew  must  wait  for  the  arrival  of  the 
shell  and  its  explosion.  When  the  subma- 
rine had  crept  up  to  a  2300-yard  range,  she 
used  shrapnel  to  sweep  the  decks.  Any  one 
of  the  shots  might  be  the  end.  It  was  esti- 
mated that  fifteen  minutes  more  of  this  firing 
would  destroy  all  above-decks,  while  the  life- 
boats would  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  guns  if 
the  crew  should  try  to  escape. 
97 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

The  attack  ended  as  suddenly  as  it  had 
begun.  Throughout  the  engagement  the 
men  had  served  their  guns  with  skill  and 
courage  above  praise.  While  facing  a  supe- 
rior battery  which  fired  in  all  thirty-five 
shots,  the  Americans  had  delivered  twenty- 
five  shots,  but  their  superior  gunnery  won 
the  day.  At  the  critical  moment  a  shot 
struck  the  submarine  just  aft  of  her  conning- 
tower.  Her  bow  rose  high  in  the  water,  and 
she  slowly  sank  stern  first,  her  crew  clinging 
to  the  deck. 

The  engagement  had  lasted  less  than  half 
an  hour.  No  member  of  the  Silver  Shell's 
crew  was  seriously  injured.  A  last  word, 
however,  was  heard  from  the  Germans. 
The  wireless  operator  soon  after  picked  up 
an  unsigned  message  reading,  "If  possible, 
steer  south.  I  will  meet  you  in  an  hour." 
Evidently  the  message  was  a  decoy  sent  out 
by  some  submarine  in  the  neighborhood. 
All  messages  sent  out  by  ships  that  are  not 
authorized  or  confirmed  by  land  stations, 
however,  are  disregarded. 

In  giving  credit  for  this  valiant  sea  fight, 
the  Government  especially  commended  Chief 
98  ' 


THE  "SILVER  SHELL" 

of  Turret  W.  J.  Clark,  an  enlisted  man  who 
had  served  twelve  years  in  the  Navy.  It 
was  due  to  his  excellent  judgment  that  the 
guns  and  gunners  had  been  handled  so 
efficiently. 

A  few  minutes  later  the  gunboat  FQ  asked 
by  wireless  for  the  Silver  Shell's  new  posi- 
tion, and  on  receiving  news  of  the  fight 
flashed  back,  "Good  work." 

Three  hours  later  the  gunboat  approached 
so  close  that  messages  were  exchanged  by 
Morse  lamp  signals.  The  next  day  the  Sil- 
ver Shell  triumphantly  entered  the  harbor  of 
Marseilles,  to  find  that  she  was  the  first 
American  ship  to  reach  that  port  since  the 
United  States  had  declared  war  on  Germany. 


99 


F 


XVI 

A  RECORD  PERFORMANCE 

OR  more  than  a  year  the  victory  of  the 
Borinquen  has  been  unsurpassed  for 
fast  and  decisive  fighting.  Taken  unawares 
in  the  middle  of  the  night,  her  crew  re- 
sponded so  vigorously  to  a  submarine  attack 
that  her  third  shot  sent  the  enemy  craft  down 
stern  first. 

Every  factor  favored  the  U-boat.  She 
had  sighted  the  Borinquen  from  a  distance, 
when  the  low-lying  submarine  was  naturally 
invisible,  and  had  managed  to  creep  up  to 
within  eighty  yards  of  the  steamer  before 
firing  her  first  shot.  There  was  therefore 
ample  time  to  make  every  preparation.  The 
men  were  at  their  stations;  the  guns  were 
trained  on  the  most  vital  part  of  the  mer- 
chantman. In  night  attacks  it  is  impossible 
to  equalize  the  terms  on  which  two  such 
antagonists  meet.  The  great  bulk  of  the 
ioo 


A  RECORD  PERFORMANCE 

steamers  offer  a  conspicuous  target,  while 
the  U-boat's  diminutive  size  and  greater 
speed  lend  her  an  overwhelming  advantage. 

To  balance  this  handicap,  the  merchant- 
ship  must  rely  on  the  vigilance  of  her  crew 
and  the  accuracy  of  her  gunners.  The 
alarm  was  sounded  within  a  few  minutes  of 
midnight  on  an  unusually  dark  night.  The 
commander  of  the  guard,  Gunner's  Mate 
Thomas  J.  Beerman,  was  in  his  quarters 
at  the  time,  working  on  his  log.  It  is  essen- 
tial on  these  cruises  that  it  be  known  at 
every  moment  of  the  day  or  night  just  where 
the  ship  lies.  The  Borinquen  was  on  a  very 
dangerous  sea  lane  approaching  a  French 
port.  The  strain  on  the  men  is  very  trying 
at  such  times.  The  officers  are  on  duty 
about  twenty  hours  out  of  every  twenty- 
four. 

There  was  a  shout  of  warning  from  one 
of  the  men  at  the  guns,  and  at  almost  the 
same  instant  a  shot  rang  out.  By  the  time 
the  crew  could  rush  across  the  narrow  deck 
to  their  stations,  a  second  shot  was  fired. 
Through  the  misty  darkness  the  outlines  of 
the  submarine  could  barely  be  defined.  She 
101 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

lay  off  the  port  bow,  a  mere  shadow  on  the 
water  some  eighty  yards  away.  So  close  in 
was  the  enemy  that  the  sparks  of  her  wire- 
less could  be  clearly  seen.  She  was  evi- 
dently in  communication  with  some  other 
German  boat.  It  was  impossible  to  guess 
whether  her  reinforcements  were  far  or 
near. 

But  the  wireless  served  the  Americans  for 
the  moment  at  least,  and  this  sufficed.  The 
faint  sparks  gave  the  Americans  a  clue  in 
the  inky  blackness.  Although  the  subma- 
rine went  into  action  with  all  her  crew  at 
their  quarters,  and  the  Americans  might  nat- 
urally at  such  an  hour  have  been  off  their 
guard,  the  reply  of  the  Borinquen  came  be- 
fore the  German  could  fire  a  third  time. 
The  shot  grazed  the  conning-tower  of  the 
submarine. 

Both  ships  were  now  firing  point-blank. 
There  was  little  chance  of  missing  at  this 
short  range,  although  the  advantage  was  still 
greatly  in  favor  of  the  Germans.  All  real- 
ized that  a  few  seconds  must  decide  the  issue 
of  the  battle,  one  way  or  the  other. 

The  third  shot  from  the  American  gun- 
102 


A  RECORD  PERFORMANCE 

ners  on  the  Borinqiten  struck  the  U-boat's 
conning-tower  fairly,  and  exploded.  It 
proved  to  be  the  decisive  shot  of  the  engage- 
ment. A  fourth  shot  was  not  needed.  The 
submarine  slowly  lifted.  Her  prow  rose 
high  in  the  water,  and  she  sank  rapidly,  bow 
first.  Within  a  few  seconds  the  water  had 
closed  over  her. 

In  the  official  comment  on  this  victory, 
especial  stress  was  laid  upon  the  alertness 
of  the  crew  in  responding  to  the  alarm. 
Every  waking  hour  is  a  constant  strain  for 
all  on  board,  and  there  is  little  rest  for  the 
gun  crews.  A  delay  of  a  few  seconds  in 
responding  to  the  call  to  quarters  would 
probably  have  lost  the  ship.  The  alarm,  be- 
sides, came  after  several  days  spent  in  the 
danger  zone,  when  the  strain  might  be  ex- 
pected to  tell  on  all  the  men  engaged.  To 
down  a  powerful  submarine  with  three  shots 
is  even  more  than  the  most  sanguine  gunner 
might  reasonably  expect. 


103 


XVII 

ONE  OF  THE  FIRST  TESTS 

*TT  remains  to  be  seen  if  the  lightning 
1  Americans  can  cope  with  the  Germans 
who  have  been  trained  from  their  youth  up." 
So  said  the  Kaiser  when  America  entered 
the  war.  The  question  has  been  quickly  an- 
swered. Within  a  few  weeks  after  the  dec- 
laration of  war,  the  armed  guards  aboard 
American  ships  had  given  an  excellent 
account  of  themselves. 

The  work  of  the  armed  guards  is  ex- 
tremely exacting.  Like  trench  warfare, 
such  fighting  requires  a  highly  trained  per- 
sonnel. It  is  high  praise  for  the  discipline 
and  training  of  our  sailors  that  they  should 
have  acquitted  themselves  so  brilliantly  upon 
such  slight  experience  in  this  new  warfare. 

One  of  the  earliest  of  our  victories  came 
with  the  encounter,  in  the  first  weeks  of  the 
war,  between  the  transport  Nyanza  and  a 
104 


ONE  OF  THE  FIRST  TESTS 

submarine.  Our  men  were  new  to  the  dif- 
ficulties and  dangers  of  warfare  in  these 
submarine-infested  waters.  A  periscope  is 
an  exceedingly -elusive  object  at  sea.  They 
are  very  small,  and  project  only  a  few  inches 
above  the  surface  of  the  water.  To  make 
the  work  of  the  submarine  observer  more 
difficult,  they  are  painted  a  silvery  gray  to 
blend  with  the  color  of  the  sea.  Their  sur- 
faces are,  besides,  treated  so  that  they  will 
not  reflect  the  rays  of  the  sun.  Although 
the  American  sailors  aboard  the  Nyanza  had 
never  seen  a  German  U-boat,  they  had  been 
trained  in  an  excellent  school.  It  is  a  matter 
of  official  record  that  the  lookout  on  the 
American  transport  in  her  first  engagement 
sighted  the  silvered  periscope  of  the  German 
submarine  at  a  thousand  yards. 

The  range  is  short  enough  for  torpedo 
work,  and  gives  a  ship  little  time  for  manceu- 
vering.  A  moment  after  the  periscope  was 
sighted,  the  German  loosed  a  torpedo.  It 
was  reported,  and  by  skilful  seamanship  the 
Nyansa  dodged  the  blow.  Her  helm  was 
put  hard  to  port  and  the  vessel's  stern  swung 
clear.  At  the  same  time,  her  gunners 
105 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

opened  fire  on  the  undersea  craft.  The 
German  fell  astern,  rose  to  the  surface,  and 
gave  chase.  The  transport,  which  was 
filled  with  American  soldiers,  made  a  tempt- 
ing target. 

The  battle  began  at  rather  short  range. 
The  German  used  two  guns,  firing  shrapnel. 
Her  manceuver  was  new  to  the  Americans. 
She  darted  about  at  a  high  speed,  zigzagging 
from  side  to  side  to  make  it  possible  to  use 
both  her  guns  at  once,  and  at  the  same  time 
helping  to  confuse  the  American's  aim.  The 
submarine  fired,  in  all,  about  two  hundred 
shots.  The  Nyanza  was  hit  five  times. 
One  shell  passed  completely  through  the 
ship;  another  destroyed  the  guard  mess- 
room;  still  another  wrecked  the  gun  plat- 
form. None  of  the  shells,  however,  hit  any 
of  the  gunners  or  interrupted  the  fire.  So 
close  did  one  of  the  shots  come  that  a  cadet 
engineer  was  wounded,  his  clothing  being 
literally  torn  from  his  body. 

The  fire  of  the  American  gunners  was 
very  fast.  They  sent,  in  all,  ninety-two 
rounds,  less  than  half  the  number  of  Ger- 
man shells.  The  Germans  had  a  much 
1 06 


ONE  OF  THE  FIRST  TESTS 

larger  target  to  hit.  The  submarine  was 
not  only  low  in  the  water,  but  her  rapid  zig- 
zag manceuver  rendered  it  extremely  diffi- 
cult to  strike.  The  Nyanza  gunners  finally 
found  the  range,  however,  and  sent  four 
shells  into  the  German.  The  submarine 
turned  broadside,  keeled  over,  and  disap- 
peared. The  battle  had  lasted  two  and  a 
half  hours.  The  Germans  had  been  out- 
manceuvered  and  outfought  at  every  turn. 

In  the  officer's  report  of  the  engagement, 
he  closes  with  the  hopeful  remark:  "Our 
gunners  gained  experience  which  I  think  will 
be  manifested  in  the  next  attack." 


107 


XVIII 
BEFORE  AND  AFTER  THE  WRECK 

NO  mere  landsman  can  appreciate  the 
work  of  the  men  far  below  decks  in  a 
sea  fight.  In  the  open  air,  or  near  it,  a  sailor 
may  be  said  to  face  his  antagonist.  Even  if 
he  be  shut  in  behind  armored  walls,  there  is 
still  an  encouraging  sense  of  freedom.  If 
the  worst  comes,  a  step  brings  him  to  the 
open  deck  or  the  boats.  A  man  can  endure 
much  who  knows  that  his  retreat  is  kept 
open. 

Few  landsmen  have  visited  the  engine- 
rooms  of  ocean  liners  or  war-ships.  It  is  a 
terrifying  experience  under  the  most  favor- 
able conditions.  The  holds  set  apart  for  the 
machinery  lie  at  the  foot  of  deep  shafts  far 
below  the  surface  of  the  sea.  The  visitor 
is  led  through  intricate  passageways  until  it 
seems  a  hopeless  task  to  find  his  way  back 
to  daylight.  At  the  opening  of  these  shafts 
the  ordinary  staircases  come  to  an  end,  and 
1 08 


// 


LI       l    -\\\ 


BEFORE  AND  AFTER  THE  WRECK 

a  steep  descent  must  be  made  down  perpen- 
dicular iron  ladders. 

Here  one  leaves  the  comfort  of  the  ship's 
cabins  behind.  Everything  is  built  of  metal, 
which  becomes  hot  and  grimy.  The  heat  in- 
creases as  one  descends,  until  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  engines  it  becomes  suffocat- 
ing. A  few  dim  electric  lights  partially  re- 
veal the  unfamiliar  scene.  The  great  shapes 
of  the  engines  and  boilers,  the  dark  shadows 
in  every  corner,  the  flare  of  the  fires,  strike 
terror  to  the  landlubber.  Let  this  crowded 
hold  swing  violently  as  the  ship  rolls  and 
pitches,  and  the  place  becomes  a  nightmare. 

In  a  sea  fight  the  engine-room  is  a  place  of 
imminent  danger  to  all.  The  crew,  working 
in  semi-darkness,  know  little  of  what  is  going 
on  high  above  them.  The  electric  signals 
that  keep  these*  remote  regions  in  instant 
communication  with  the  bridge  tell  almost 
nothing.  The  crew,  receiving  calls  for  in- 
creased speed  or  a  sudden  stoppage  of  the 
engines,  can  only  guess  at  what  is  happening. 

In  a  fight  with  a  submarine  the  danger  is, 
of  course,  greatly  increased.  The  torpedo 
strikes  below  the  belt.  The  heaviest  arma- 
iii 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

ment  above  the  water-line  offers  no  protec- 
tion to  the  crew  in  the  engine-room.  With- 
out a  moment's  warning,  the  ship's  side  may 
be  shattered  by  an  explosion  from  a  well- 
directed  torpedo,  and  the  inrush  of  water 
may  drown  the  men  like  rats  in  a  trap. 
Even  when  escape  is  not  shut  off,  the  perpen- 
dicular ladders  leading  from  the  engine- 
room  to  safety  offer  a  precarious  footing. 
A  slip,  as  the  boat  swings  violently  from  side 
to  side,  may  mean  a  fatal  fall.  To  carry  the 
injured  to  the  deck  above,  even  in  a  smooth 
sea,  is  difficult  work. 

From  this  glimpse  of  these  lower  regions, 
one  may  gain  some  idea  of  the  courage  that 
keeps  the  crew  at  their  stations  in  the  engine- 
rooms  throughout  a  submarine  battle. 
When  the  decisive  blow  falls  and  the  ship 
begins  to  fill  and  sink,  it  is  often  a  terrify- 
ing race  with  death  to  reach  the  decks  and 
such  safety  as  they  afford. 

In  the  engagement  between  the  Alcedo 
and  a  submarine,  the  crew,  as  usual,  stood 
manfully  at  their  posts.  They  had  worked 
for  hours  without  news  from  above,  when  a 
terrifying  explosion  shook  the  ship.  A  por- 
112 


BEFORE  AND  AFTER  THE  WRECK 

tion  of  the  hull  had  been  torn  away  by  the 
impact,  and  the  water  rushed  in.  The  crew 
ran  to  the  ladders. 

A  member  of  the  engine-room  force,  of 
his  own  will,  remained  behind.  The  lights 
had  been  extinguished,  and  the  water  rapidly 
mounting  soon  reached  to  his  knees.  Know- 
ing the  engine-room  by  heart,  even  in  the 
darkness  and  confusion,  he  made  his  way  to 
the  safety-valve.  The  machinery  was  so 
disjointed  by  the  shock  that  the  power  could 
not  be  turned  on,  and  it  was  necessary  to 
raise  the  safety-valve  slowly,  laboriously,  by 
hand.  The  water  rose  above  the  man's 
knees  before  the  work  was  completed.  To 
operate  the  machinery  required  a  cool  head 
and  a  steady  hand. 

Later,  when  the  Alcedo  was  sunk  by  a 
submarine,  her  crew  displayed  unusual  gal- 
lantry. The  ship  sank  in  a  winter  sea,  when 
the  icy  water  might  have  terrified  the  bravest 
men.  A  member  of  the  Alcedo  s  crew,  after 
swimming  about  for  some  time,  found  a  raft 
and  succeeded  in  climbing  on  it.  It  was  soon 
found  that  the  raft  was  overcrowded  and 
the  lives  of  all  were  imperiled  unless  some 
113 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

one  freed  it  of  his  weight.  There  were  no 
other  boats  or  rafts  in  sight  at  the  time.  No 
drawing  of  lots  was  needed  to  select  the  one 
who  should  face  the  new  danger.  No  argu- 
ment was  necessary,  much  less  any  force.  A 
second-class  seaman  quietly  volunteered. 
With  a  hasty  good-by,  he  stood  up  and  quite 
calmly  jumped  into  the  water.  The  unsel- 
fish sailor  of  the  Alcedo  who  willingly  gave 
up  his  place  on  the  life-raft  should  be 
counted  in  any  estimate  of  our  gallantry  as 
a  nation.  He  was  picked  up  by  a  boat  after 
long  exposure  and  brought  safely  ashore. 


114 


XIX 

ABOARD  THE  LARGEST 
TRANSPORT 

ONE  of  the  most  significant  victories  of 
the  war,  destined  to  live  long  in  the 
history  of  the  Navy,  was  won  on  the  bridge 
and  in  the  engine-room  of  a  merchant-ship. 
Unlike  most  naval  engagements,  which  last 
but  a  few  hours,  this  victory  was  won  by 
skill  and  vigilance  that  was  never  relaxed 
for  more  than  a  week.  The  heroes  of  the 
battle  are  two  young  men,  the  American  cap- 
tain and  engineer  of  the  steamship  Levia- 
than (formerly  the  Vaterland). 

The  Leviathan,  as  all  the  world  knows,  is 
the  largest  ship  in  commission.  Her  great 
length  of  nearly  iooo  feet,  her  width  of  more 
than  ioo  feet,  and  her  tonnage  of  more  than 
50,000,  are,  of  course,  familiar  figures.  So 
complicated  is  the  navigation  of  the  great 
liner  that  her  German  owners  considered  it 
necessary  for  her  to  carry  five  ranking  cap- 
tains. The  chief,  with  the  title  of  Commo- 
115 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

dore,  exercised  general  supervision,  while 
four  captains  devoted  their  entire  attention 
to  special  departments.  One  was  an  expert 
in  navigation,  a  second  in  machinery,  a  third 
in  signals. 

The  work  of  the  men  in  the  great  engine- 
room  was  also  highly  specialized.  To  drive 
this  enormous  bulk  through  the  water,  the 
most  powerful  marine  engines  ever  con- 
structed were  installed.  The  complication 
of  this  vast  network  of  machinery  was  be- 
wildering. Eight  engineers  presided  over 
the  engines,  each  busied  with  a  special  de- 
partment of  his  own.  All  Germany  took 
immense  pride  in  this  largest  of  steamships 
and  in  the  skill  and  efficiency  of  its  crew. 

When  the  United  States  was  drawn  into 
the  Great  War,  it  was,  of  course,  realized 
that  the  German  ships  might  be  seized,  in- 
cluding the  greatest  prize  of  the  fleet,  the 
Vaterland;  and  plans  long  matured  were  at 
once  carried  out  to  disable  the  ships  scienti- 
fically, beyond  hope  of  repair,  by  Americans, 
at  least.  Certain  vital  parts  of  the  machin- 
ery of  the  ships  were  destroyed  or  impaired. 

On  the  day  that  this  havoc  was  wrought, 
116 


ABOARD  THE  TRANSPORT 

orders  were  sent  to  Germany  to  manufacture 
these  parts  from  the  original  ships'  draw- 
ings, and  to  hold  them  in  readiness  to  ship  to 
America.  The  German  reasoning  was  con- 
clusive. It  was  impossible,  they  believed, 
for  these  parts  to  be  made  in  America.  The 
ships  must  therefore  lie  useless  until  the  end 
of  the  war,  when  new  parts  would  be  hurried 
from  Germany,  installed  by  German  work- 
men, and  the  ships  would  be  as  good  as  new. 
The  Germans  made  no  allowance  for 
American  ingenuity.  When  the  fleet  was 
taken  over  by  our  government,  the  havoc  in- 
flicted by  the  German  engineers  was  found 
to  be  appalling.  The  delicate  machinery 
had  been  attacked  with  sledge-hammers  in 
the  most  vital  parts.  To  reproduce  the  in- 
jured parts  would  have  been  the  work  of 
months,  perhaps  years.  But,  with  charac- 
teristic ingenuity,  the  naval  officers  sought  a 
short  cut,  and  found  one.  The  broken  parts 
were  welded  together  by  means  of  acetylene 
flame  and  electric  devices,  and  the  parts  on 
being  tested  were  found  to  be  stronger  than 
ever.  Within  a  few  weeks  the  fleet  was 
ready  for  the  sea  under  its  new  flag. 
117 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

Here  was  a  triumph  for  American  engi- 
neering, but  the  work  was  not  at  an  end. 
The  Germans  had  made  the  fatal  mistake  of 
grossly  underrating  the  despised  Americans. 
They  had  scoffed  at  the  idea  that  Americans 
could  master  the  intricacies  of  their  machin- 
ery. The  instruments  used  by  the  naviga- 
tion officers,  for  instance,  are  extremely  com- 
plicated. The  Vaterland  had  been  equipped 
with  a  gyroscopic  compass  that  served  as  the 
mother  compass  for  a  secondary  set.  The 
great  hull,  again,  was  divided  by  steel  bulk- 
heads into  upward  of  fifty  water-tight  com- 
partments, which  rendered  her  practically 
unsinkable.  This  elaborate  precaution  was 
taken  to  guard  against  danger  in  case  of  col- 
lision or  other  accident  at  sea.  All  this  ma- 
chinery the  American  officers  put  in  order, 
and  the  equipment  now  serves  admirably  in 
case  of  torpedo  attack.  There  are,  besides, 
elaborate  devices  for  indicating  the  outbreak 
of  fire  in  any  part  of  the  ship,  and  systems 
of  electric  communication  which  keep  every 
part  of  the  enormous  hull  in  instant  touch 
with  the  bridge. 

The  Leviathan  has  made  many  trips  carry- 
118 


ABOARD  THE  TRANSPORT 

ing  11,000  American  soldiers — by  far  the 
greatest  number  ever  accommodated  on  a 
single  ship.  The  writer  has  seen  Germans 
greatly  amused  at  the  suggestion  that  a  mere 
American  could  preside  over  so  vast  and 
complicated  a  fabric  as  the  largest  of  steam- 
ships; but  still  another  surprise  awaited  the 
Germans.  A  single  officer,  aged  twenty- 
eight  years,  borrowed  from  the  United  States 
Navy,  took  complete  charge  of  the  engines 
of  the  Leviathan,  replacing  eight  highly  spe- 
cialized German  experts.  In  place  of  the 
five  captains,  a  single  American  officer,  aged 
thirty-two  years,  directed  the  great  ship 
from  the  bridge.  And,  with  her  patched 
machinery  and  reduced  staff  of  executive 
officers,  the  largest  of  ships  lowered  her  own 
best  previous  record  by  nearly  a  knot  an  hour 
throughout  the  Atlantic  crossing. 


119 


XX 

VIA  WIRELESS 

ALTHOUGH  countless  changes  have 
transformed  its  fleets  and  new  perils 
tested  the  bravery  of  its  men,  the  spirit  of 
the  Navy  is  unalterable.  A  century  after 
Perry's  stirring  command,  "Don't  give  up 
the  ship,"  the  same  fearless  spirit  found  ex- 
pression in  almost  identical  words.  Modern 
equipment,  which  would  have  seemed  magi- 
cal to  Perry  and  his  men,  make  it  possible 
to  flash  the  message  by  wireless  across  the 
open  sea.  Whether  our  men  be  attacked 
from  the  sky,  from  the  sea,  or  by  the  dangers 
lurking  beneath  it,  the  spirit  of  the  Navy  re- 
mains the  same. 

Early  in  the  war,  before  American  sea- 
men had  gained  the  familiarity  with  sub- 
marines and  their  methods  which  was  to 
breed  contempt,  a  vicious  attack  was  made 
upon  the  steamship  Luckenbach.  The 
steamer  carried  an  armed  guard  in  charge  of 
1 20 


VIA  WIRELESS 

two  guns  mounted  fore  and  aft.  The  under- 
sea craft  was  sighted  at  seven-thirty  one 
bright  morning,  moving  rapidly  on  the  sur- 
face at  some  distance.  Without  the  slight- 
est warning,  she  trained  her  guns  on  the 
Luckenbach  and  opened  fire.  From  the  first 
the  steamer  was  clearly  outclassed. 

A  terrific  bombardment  followed.  In  less 
than  two  hours  the  German  fired  225  shots 
from  her  several  guns.  With  her  towering 
sides,  superstructure,  and  funnels,  the 
American  was  as  easy  to  hit  as  the  proverbial 
barn  door.  As  a  matter  of  record,  however, 
the  submarine  gunners  made  only  nine  clean 
hits.  The  armed  guard  replied  with  202 
rounds. 

The  first  well  directed  shell  from  the  Ger- 
man set  the  Luckenbach  on  fire,  injuring  sev- 
eral of  her  crew.  Hopeless  as  the  engage- 
ment seemed  the  discipline  on  the  Lucken- 
bach never  relaxed.  The  fire  alarm  brought 
the  crew  to  their  stations  and  the  situation 
was  soon  well  in  hand.  A  torpedo  from  the 
submarine  might  send  the  steamer  to  the 
bottom  at  any  moment,  but  the  crew  fought 
one  problem  at  a  time.  The  fire-fighters 
121 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

rushed  below,  and  left  the  hold  only  when 
that  particular  danger  was  over. 

Although  the  hits  were  few  and  far  be- 
tween, the  Germans  made  several  very  lucky 
shots.  The  next  effective  shell  pierced  the 
engine-room,  wounding  the  engineers  and 
putting  the  engines  out  of  commission.  The 
submarine  rapidly  approached  the  helpless 
vessel,  increasing  her  fire.  From  the  Luck- 
enbach  a  steady  fire  was  still  directed  at  the 
U-boat,  while  her  wireless  flashed  a  call  for 
help  in  all  directions. 

Still  another  shot  burst  an  important 
steam-pipe,  wounding  a  mess-boy  and  a  fire- 
man, and  still  further  crippling  the  steamer. 
As  the  U-boat  closed  in,  she  improved  her 
aim  and  one  of  her  shells  struck  the  after 
gun  of  the  Luckenbach,  completely  disabling 
it.  The  defense  was  continued  by  the  one 
remaining  gun.  At  this  critical  moment 
the  Luckenbach' s  wireless  succeeded  in  pick- 
ing up  a  destroyer  in  the  neighborhood, 
which  was  instantly  headed  full  speed  to  her 
assistance. 

In  the  exchange  of  wireless  messages  be- 
tween the  Luckenbach  and  the  destroyer,  we 
122 


VIA  WIRELESS 

find  the  ancient  spirit  of  the  Navy,  which 
would  have  delighted  Perry  or  Farragut. 

"How  quickly  can  you  get  here?"  was 
flashed  from  the  Luckenbach. 

"Two  hours,"  was  the  destroyer's  answer. 

A  world  of  meaning  was  compressed  in 
the  Luckenbach' s  laconic  reply : 

"Too  late.     Look  for  boats." 

The  destroyer,  rushing  forward  at  forced 
draught,  seemed  helpless  to  avert  the 
tragedy.  Knowing  that  any  shot  from  the 
German  might  put  the  Luckenbach  out  of 
commission,  the  destroyer  sent  a  brief  mes- 
sage of  encouragement.  Doubtless  some 
memory  of  Perry's  famous  order  was  in  her 
Captain's  mind  when  he  despatched  the 
words : 

"Don't  surrender." 

The  Luckenbach' s  reply  was  almost  in- 
stantaneous : 

"Never." 

With  her  single  gun  the  Luckenbach  still 
continued  to  keep  the  submarine  at  bay.  Of 
the  202  shots  fired  by  the  Luckenbach,  the 
forward  gun  sent  167.  At  the  end  of  an 
hour  the  crew  of  the  steamship  began  to 
123 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

strain  their  eyes  for  some  sight  of  the  de- 
stroyer. Minute  by  minute  passed  as  the 
submarine,  now  rapidly  closing  in,  shortened 
her  range.  Half  of  the  second  hour  had 
passed  when  the  lookout  reported  a  faint 
trail  of  smoke  on  the  horizon,  which  gradu- 
ally darkened  and  spread  out.  It  was  the 
destroyer,  coming  up  at  better  than  thirty 
knots  an  hour.  She  arrived  alongside  punc- 
tually at  two-thirty,  on  time  to  the  minute 
of  her  two-hour  schedule.  The  submarine 
had  disappeared.  A  few  hours  later,  with 
her  engines  repaired,  the  Luckenbach  under 
convoy  of  the  destroyer  reached  port  safely. 


124 


XXI 
A  SUCCESS  AND  A  FAILURE 

IT  would  be  interesting  to  know  whether 
Chief  Boatswain's  Mate  John  Macken- 
zie of  the  Naval  Reserve  ever  read  Victor 
Hugo's  description  of  the  loosened  cannon 
that  threatened  the  French  corvette  Clay- 
more in  his  famous  novel,  "Ninety-Three." 
In  all  fiction  there  are  few  scenes  so  dra- 
matic, and  the  bravery  of  the  French  gunner 
who  risks  his  life  to  keep  the  bronze  gun 
from  wrecking  the  ship  has  been  universally 
admired.  The  parallel  between  the  feats  of 
the  French  gunner  and  of  the  American 
sailor  mentioned  is  remarkable.  In  both 
cases  a  storm  was  raging,  and  the  ships  and 
their  crews  were  endangered ;  but,  while  the 
Frenchman  struggled  with  a  cannon,  the 
American  wrestled  with  a  heavy  bomb  which 
might  explode  at  any  moment.  If  the 
125 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

American  boy  was  trying  to  imitate  the 
French  hero,  his  act  was  an  extremely  dan- 
gerous form  of  plagiarism. 

The  bomb  was  loosened  by  a  curious  acci- 
dent. The  United  States  steamship  Remlik 
was  making  heavy  weather  in  a  severe  gale, 
when  her  plunging  caused  the  breaking  of  a 
box  or  crate  holding  a  depth  bomb.  The 
bomb  had  been  lashed  on  the  after  part  of 
the  deck  in  what  was  considered  an  out-of- 
the-way  spot.  The  plunge  that  broke  the 
box  tossed  the  broken  wood  overboard,  while 
the  bomb  was  rolled  in  the  opposite  direction. 
To  the  consternation  of  the  crew,  it  went 
bouncing  about  the  deck,  threatening  to  blow 
the  ship  to  pieces. 

There  have  been  many  cases  of  men  at 
such  a  moment  rushing  forward,  picking  up 
explosives,  and  throwing  them  overboard, 
at  imminent  peril  to  their  lives.  This  depth 
bomb,  however,  weighed  several  hundred 
pounds.  No  one  could  lift  it,  and  the  rolling 
of  the  ship  made  it  impossible  for  the  men 
to  lay  hold  of  it.  To  increase  the  excite- 
ment, some  one  noticed  that  the  pin  had 
come  out,  and  shouted  out  this  terrifying 
126 


(C)  Brown  and  Dawson. 


With    All    Flags    Set 


A  SUCCESS  AND  A  FAILURE 

news.  The  crew,  though  realizing  that  the 
next  moment  might  be  their  last,  failed  to 
form  any  concerted  plan  of  action. 

At  this  highly  critical  moment  Macken- 
zie rushed  forward  and  grappled  with  the 
bomb.  He  flung  his  body  against  it,  exert- 
ing all  his  strength  to  stop  its  plunge;  but 
the  bomb  was  much  too  heavy  for  him.  He 
repeated  the  attempt  again  and  a  third  time. 
Each  time  he  almost  succeeded  in  getting  his 
arms  around  it,  but  it  tore  itself  away  from 
him.  On  the  third  attempt  the  weight  of  the 
metal  almost  crushed  him  in  its  plunge.  He 
realized  that  the  hundreds  of  pounds  of  ex- 
plosives in  his  arms  might  go  off  at  any  mo- 
ment, and  that  the  charge  had  been  calcu- 
lated to  destroy  an  entire  ship  at  a  blow. 

At  the  fourth  attempt  Mackenzie  made  a 
supreme  effort,  secured  a  firm  grip  on  the 
bomb,  and  heaved  it  upright  till  it  stood  on  its 
flattened  end.  Having  won  this  advantage, 
he  calmly  sat  on  the  bomb  and  held  it  down 
until  assistance  came.  The  members  of  the 
crew,  who  had  apparently  been  fascinated  by 
the  danger  of  the  moment,  now  rushed  for- 
ward. Ropes  were  hastily  brought,  and  the 
129 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

depth  bomb  was  safely  lashed  in  place.     All 
danger  was  at  an  end. 

In  recognition  of  this  unique  feat,  Secre- 
tary- of  the  Navy  Daniels  has  awarded  a 
Medal  of  Honor  to  Mackenzie  and  a  gratuity 
of  $100. 

The  commanding  officer  of  the  Rcmlik,  in 
his  report  recommending  that  the  Medal  of 
Honor  be  conferred  on  Mackenzie,  says : 

"Mackenzie,  in  acting  as  he  did,  exposed 
his  life,  and  prevented  a  serious  accident  to 
the  ship  and  probable  loss  of  the  ship  and 
entire  crew.  Had  this  depth  charge  ex- 
ploded on  the  quarter-deck,  with  the  sea  and 
wind  that  existed  at  the  time,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  ship  would  have  been  lost." 

Less  fortunate  was  a  member  of  a  gun 
crew  on  a  merchant-ship  who  found  himself 
in  a  similar  situation.  The  batteries  aboard 
these  ships  are,  as  a  rule,  hastily  installed, 
and  occupy  very  exposed  positions.  The 
ships  were  not  constructed  with  any  idea  of 
mounting  guns  on  their  decks,  much  less  the 
five-  or  six-inch  guns  necessary  to  pierce  the 
armor  of  the  modern  super-submarine.  It 
is  only  when  some  unusual  strain  is  brought 
130 


A  SUCCESS  AND  A  FAILURE 

to  bear  on  the  guns  that  their  inherent  weak- 
ness is  discovered. 

In  this  instance  the  vessel  had  encountered 
a  full  gale  at  sea,  which  tested  every  joint  of 
her  frame.  A  great  wave  breaking  over  her 
deck  had  snapped  off  a  stanchion.  The  life- 
boats were  smashed  or  swept  away,  as  were 
all  movable  objects  above-decks.  Every- 
thing that  foresight  could  do  to  secure  the 
guns  had  been  done,  and  an  alert  watch  ob- 
served them  anxiously.  After  several 
hours  of  this  terrific  bombardment,  the  lash- 
ings of  one  of  the  guns  suddenly  snapped, 
and  the  great  mass  of  steel  was  loosened. 

As  long  as  the  ship  continued  to  roll  mod- 
erately, the  weight  of  the  gun  kept  it  in 
place ;  but  a  violent  swing  might  at  any  mo- 
ment cause  it  to  shift  its  position.  In  such 
a  case,  anything  might  happen  in  the  twink- 
ling of  an  eye.  If  the  gun  were  overturned, 
its  delicate  mechanism  would  be  broken  be- 
yond hope  of  repair,  at  sea  at  least,  while  the 
high  waves  might  easily  roll  it  overboard. 
For  several  anxious  moments  the  gun  slipped 
from  side  to  side,  covered  with  a  smother 
of  sea-foam. 

131 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

In  a  momentary  lull,  one  of  the  gun  crew 
caught  up  a  rope  and,  watching  for  his 
chance,  sprang  upon  the  gun.  He  was 
obliged  to  contend  with  two  dangers  that 
made  his  position  particularly  perilous.  The 
gun  might  roll  upon  him,  crushing  him  be- 
fore he  could  dodge  it,  or  the  waves  might 
sweep  him  from  his  position.  There  was  a 
desperate  struggle  for  several  anxious  min- 
utes. The  gunner  had  succeeded  in  fasten- 
ing one  end  of  the  rope  about  the  cannon, 
when  a  surge  of  water  loosened  his  hold  and 
swept  him  overboard.  No  life-boat  could 
live  in  such  a  sea,  and  from  the  ship's  sides 
nothing  could  be  seen  of  the  unfortunate  gun- 
ner; but,  undeterred  by  the  tragedy,  other 
seamen  rushed  forward,  and  the  gun  was 
finally  secured  and  rode  out  the  storm  in 
safety. 


132 


XXII 
STANDING  BY  THE  SHIP 

MANY  torpedoed  ships  have  been  saved 
from  sinking,  against  all  the  proba- 
bilities, by  the  alertness  of  their  crews. 
According  to  the  laws  of  gravitation  the  Ar- 
menia should  have  gone  down  within  a  few 
minutes  after  being  struck.  The  attack  oc- 
curred at  12.40  a.  m.,  February  19,  1918, 
an  hour  when  the  guard  might  be  found 
somewhat  relaxed. 

The  torpedo  struck  the  Armenia  at  an  an- 
gle on  the  starboard  quarter.  The  subma- 
rine was  completely  hidden  in  the  darkness, 
and  the  first  warning  came  from  the  lookout, 
E.  M.  Wright,  a  seaman  of  the  second  class 
connected  with  the  armed  guard.  The  tor- 
pedo was  but  forty  yards  off  when  sighted, 
and  a  few  seconds  intervened  before  she 
struck.  There  was,  of  course,  no  time  to 
133 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

alter  the  course  of  the  vessel  or  to  manceuver 
to  avoid  the  blow. 

The  wreckage  was  appalling.  The  tor- 
pedo passed  completely  through  the  ship's 
side,  bending  it  far  in,  and  leaving  a  hole 
through  which  the  sea  poured  at  a  terrifying 
rate.  So  great  was  the  force  of  the  impact 
that  the  steel  deck  was  buckled  up  to  a  height 
of  three  feet.  The  wooden  bulkheads  were 
set  on  fire. 

Chief  Boatswain  Mate  S.  Hamiab,  com- 
manding the  gun  crew,  and  the  lookout,  who 
sighted  the  torpedo,  were  thrown  into  the 
air  by  the  explosion,  and  all  of  the  men  were 
badly  knocked  about.  When  the  crew  got 
to  their  feet  and  ran  to  their  stations,  they 
found  the  gun  platform  a  mass  of  wreckage. 
No  defense  could  be  made,  so  complete  was 
the  demolition,  and  all  hands  were  mustered 
to  save  the  ship. 

The  ship's  discipline  proved  all  that  could 
be  desired.  Although  in  imminent  danger, 
since  the  ship  might  take  her  final  plunge  at 
any  moment,  the  seamen,  responding  will- 
ingly to  orders,  rushed  below-decks.  The 
collision  mats  were  brought  out,  and,  work- 
134 


STANDING  BY  THE  SHIP 

ing  coolly,  the  men  succeeded  in  placing  them 
in  position  and  stopping  the  inrush  of  water. 
Standing  up  to  their  waists  in  water,  which 
was  rapidly  rising,  the  work  was  completed. 

Meanwhile,  the  ship  was  afire  in  several 
places.  So  disorganized  was  the  ship's  pip- 
ing that  it  was  found  impossible  to  make  use 
of  the  regular  fire  hose.  There  was  not  a 
moment  to  lose,  and  the  seamen  descended 
to  the  burning  hold  and  put  out  the  fire  with 
their  hands. 

Three  American  seamen,  enlisted  men, 
had  an  even  closer  call  aboard  a  British 
merchant-ship,  and  later  were  commended 
by  our  naval  authorities  for  their  part  in 
saving  her.  The  merchantman  was  struck 
by  a  torpedo,  September  i,  191 7,  and  filled 
rapidly.  All  hope  seemed  at  an  end,  and 
the  ship's  company  was  ordered  to  take  to 
the  boats.  Two  of  the  American  seamen, 
Stephan  J.  Downy  and  F.  Kellard  Goulach, 
got  away  safely  in  separate  boats.  A  third 
American,  Alfred  Allard,  stayed  on  the  ship, 
with  her  Captain. 

As  long  as  the  ship  remained  afloat  the 
Captain  refused  to  leave  her.  The  crew, 
135 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

meanwhile,  rowed  away  to  a  safe  distance. 
The  last  plunge  of  a  large  ship,  as  every  sea- 
man knows,  is  likely  to  carry  down  all  on 
board.  The  suction  caused  by  the  sinking 
hull  draws  down  all  objects  in  this  terrify- 
ing vortex,  and  the  strongest  swimmer  is 
powerless  against  it. 

Left  alone  on  the  ship,  the  Captain  and 
Allard  watched  the  ship  slowly  settle.  The 
crew,  having  retreated  to  a  safe  distance, 
rested  on  the  oars  and  waited  for  the  final 
plunge.  The  three  American  seamen  mean- 
while proved  invaluable  in  keeping  the  boats 
in  touch  with  the  merchant-ship  by  signal- 
ing. Allard,  standing  on  the  bridge  beside 
the  Captain,  directed  Downy  and  Goulach, 
by  wigwagging,  the  distance  they  were  to 
keep  from  the  ship,  and  kept  them  informed 
of  her  condition. 

Several  hours  later  the  Captain  began  to 
hope  that  his  ship  might  still  be  saved.  An 
examination  of  the  water  in  the  hold  decided 
him  to  make  the  effort.  Allard  was  directed 
to  call  in  the  boats  and  the  crew  by  his  sig- 
nals, and  once  aboard  all  hands  set  to  work. 
The  ship  was  finally  beached  in  safety. 
136 


XXIII 
WHEN  THE  S.S.  "LINCOLN"  SANK 

THE  crucial  test  of  the  naval  drills  and 
preparations  for  a  surprise  attack  came 
with  the  sinking  of  the  transport  Lincoln. 
There  were  715  men  all  told  aboard  the  Lin- 
coln, while  her  great  size,  and  the  height  of 
her  boat-decks  above  the  water,  made  it  dif- 
ficult to  execute  quickly  the  final  orders. 
She  had  been  struck  almost  simultaneously 
by  two  torpedoes,  sinking  within  a  few  min- 
utes. The  noise  of  escaping  steam  made  it 
impossible  to  give  verbal  order  throughout 
the  length  of  the  great  vessel,  and  the  com- 
plicated work  of  abandoning  ship  had  to  be 
carried  out  by  signals. 

Working  under  the  most  trying  condi- 
tions, the  crew  went  about  its  duties  coolly 
and  intelligently.  Several  men  had  been 
killed  and  many  wounded  by  the  explosions, 
and  there  were  a  number  of  sick  and 
137 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

wounded  returning  from  France,  including 
two  paralyzed  men.  Nevertheless  the  en- 
tire ship's  company,  with  provisions,  was 
transferred  to  life-boats  and  life-rafts,  and 
the  flotilla  kept  under  perfect  discipline  for 
hours  until  picked  up.  Three  officers  and 
twenty-three  men  lost  their  lives. 

The  scenes  on  board  the  Lincoln  and  in 
the  boats  have  been  admirably  described  in 
the  official  report  prepared  by  Commander 
Percy  W.  Foote,  the  commanding  officer  of 
the  transport.  The  matter-of-fact  way  in 
which  the  most  thrilling  acts  are  recorded 
illustrates  the  attitude  of  the  men  of  the 
Navy  toward  their  own  exploits. 

"Three  torpedoes  were  sighted  approach- 
ing the  ship  on  the  port  side  at  a  distance  of 
from  three  to  four  hundred  yards  away," 
says  Commander  Foote's  report.  "Efforts 
were  made  to  turn  the  ship  to  avoid  the  tor- 
pedoes, but  there  was  not  sufficient  time  to 
do  so,  and  two  torpedoes  struck  together 
practically  in  the  same  place,  about  120  feet 
from  the  bow,  and  one  torpedo  struck  about 
120  feet  from  the  stern.  The  call  to  battle 
stations  was  instantly  sounded  when  the  tor- 
138 


WHEN  THE  S.S.  "LINCOLN"  SANK 

pedoes  were  sighted,  and  every  one  went 
quickly,  but  quietly,  to  his  proper  post. 

"Preparations  were  made  for  launching 
the  boats  and  life-rafts,  and  the  guns  were 
manned  and  made  ready  for  fire.  Inspec- 
tions were  made  below-decks,  and  it  was 
found  that  the  bulkheads  were  holding  the 
water  in  the  forward  hold,  but  aft  the  en- 
gine-room bulkhead  was  ruptured,  and  the 
water  entered  the  engine-room.  There  was 
plenty  of  time,  however,  for  the  men  to 
escape  from  the  engine-  and  fire-rooms,  and 
no  casualties  occurred  therein.  Seven  men 
at  work  in  the  forward  end  of  the  ship  were 
killed  by  the  force  of  the  explosion  or  the 
inrush  of  the  water. 

"Fifteen  minutes  after  the  ship  was 
struck,  it  appeared  quite  evident  that  she 
would  sink.  The  boats  and  rafts  were 
placed  in  the  water,  and  the  order  was  given 
all  hands  to  abandon  ship." 

Several  of  the  officers  and  the  gun  crews, 
however,  still  remained  on  the  sinking  ship. 
It  was  found  later  that  two  men  stayed  too 
long,  and  were  lost  when  the  ship  went  down. 
The  danger  was  obvious  to  all,  but  the  men 
i39 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

stood  calmly  at  their  posts,  awaiting  orders. 
A  few  minutes  later  fire  was  opened  from 
the  bow  gun  in  the  general  direction  in  which 
it  was  thought  the  submarine  might  lie,  on 
the  chance  of  preventing  another  attack  and 
to  cover  the  retreat  of  the  open  boats.  The 
personal  narrative  continues : 

"Four  or  five  minutes  before  the  ship 
finally  sank,  half  the  vessel  being  then  under 
water,  the  chief  master-at-arms  reported 
that  his  inspection  below-decks  showed  all 
hands  to  be  out  of  the  ship.  The  order  was 
then  given  for  every  one,  including  the  gun 
crews,  to  leave  the  ship;  and  the  master-at- 
arms  and  I  then  went  into  the  water  and 
swam  to  a  life-raft. 

"Due  to  the  difficulties  which  generally 
exist  when  boats  are  filled  with  people  and 
lowered  quickly  in  emergency,  it  had  been 
previously  arranged  for  every  one  to  go  in 
the  water  and  get  on  the  rafts.  Only  five 
men  and  an  officer  were  assigned  to  the  boats 
to  lower  them;  the  boats  then  to  go  among 
the  life-rafts  and  pick  up  the  people.  This 
proved  to  be  a  very  satisfactory  arrange- 
ment, as  the  boats  were  lowered  and  got  clear 
140 


WHEN  THE  S.S.  "LINCOLN"  SANK 

of  the  ship  without  difficulty.  One  boat, 
however,  was  loaded  with  the  sick  before 
lowering;  and  all  the  sick,  including  the  two 
paralyzed  soldiers,  were  saved." 

The  scene  is  probably  unique  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Navy.  There  survived  over 
seven  hundred  men,  some  five  hundred  in 
the  open  boats  and  two  hundred  on  the  life- 
rafts,  crowding  these  frail  crafts  to  their 
capacity.  The  sea  was  rough,  and  the  near- 
est land  remote.     The  report  continues : 

"After  the  ship  sank  the  work  of  loading 
the  boats  to  their  capacity  and  securing  the 
rafts  together  was  begun,  and  while  this 
work  was  under  way,  about  half  an  hour 
after  the  ship  sank,  the  submarine  appeared, 
and  came  near  the  boats  and  rafts.  The 
submarine  first  took  one  of  the  sailors,  Sea- 
man Anderson,  on  board,  and  then  a  little 
later  took  one  of  the  officers,  Lieutenant 
Isaaca,  after  which  it  returned  the  seaman  to 
the  boat. 

"Another  instance  which  illustrated  the 

coolness  of  the  young  American  boys  who 

composed  the  crew  of  the  ship  occurred  when 

the  submarine  was  cruising  among  the  boats. 

141 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

We  naturally  thought  of  the  possibility  of 
the  submarine  firing  on  the  boats,  and  an  of- 
ficer on  the  submarine  was  seen  to  go  to  the 
muzzle  of  one  of  the  guns  and,  as  we  thought 
at  that  time,  remove  the  covering  prepara- 
tory to  firing.  When  this  was  observed,  one 
of  the  men  in  the  boat  said:  'Good  night! 
Here  comes  the  fireworks.'  But  the  sub- 
marine did  not  fire,  and  all  the  survivors  in 
the  boats  escaped  unharmed. 

"The  submarine  remained  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  boats  for  about  an  hour  and  a  half.  It 
returned  in  the  afternoon  about  two  o'clock, 
remained  near  at  hand  for  about  an  hour, 
and  then  left  the  vicinity  and  did  not  re- 
appear. 

"The  work  of  collecting  the  boats  and 
rafts  together  was  continued,  and  by  dark  we 
had  the  rafts  tied  together  and  the  boats  se- 
cured to  the  rafts  and  to  each  other;  the 
boats  being  loaded  practically  to  their  carry- 
ing capacity,  there  being  about  five  hundred 
men  in  the  boats  and  about  two  hundred  on 
the  rafts. 

"Lighted  lanterns  were  hoisted  on  the  oars 
in  the  boats,  and  Coston  flare-lights  were 
142 


WHEN  THE  S.S.  "LINCOLN"  SANK 

turned  at  frequent  intervals.  Watches  were 
set,  and  those  not  on  watch  were  told  to  go 
to  sleep.  Despite  the  hurry  of  departure, 
the  boats  and  rafts  had  been  amply  provi- 
sioned with  food  and  water.  Throughout 
the  night  the  stores  remained  untouched.  It 
was  anticipated  that  many  days  might  be 
spent  in  the  boats,  and  the  supplies  were 
saved  against  a  time  of  absolute  need.  The 
spirit  of  the  men  throughout  the  long  night 
was  admirable.  Chief  Petty  Officer  Oulette 
brought  ashore  the  following  incident : 

"  There  were  a  number  of  officers  with 
the  men  on  the  raft,'  he  writes,  'among  whom 
was  the  chaplain,  and  Oulette  told  me  that 
the  chaplain  very  properly  said  prayers  for 
the  rescue  of  the  men.  But  Oulette  feared 
the  men  would  become  somewhat  despon- 
dent, so  he  decided  to  tell  some  jokes  and 
sing  a  song,  and  the  song  he  sang  was, 
"Where  Do  We  Go  from  Here?"  ' 

"At  about  up.  m.,  when  it  was  quite  dark, 
a  blinking  white  light  was  sighted,  and  very 
soon  it  was  found  that  one  of  the  American 
destroyers  had  arrived  to  our  rescue.  A 
rousing  cheer  was  given  by  the  men,  and  the 
143 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

work  of  embarking  on  board  the  destroyer 
was  begun.  About  an  hour  afterward  an- 
other destroyer  arrived,  and  by  2  a.  m.  all  the 
survivors  were  embarked  aboard  the  de- 
stroyers. After  waiting  till  daylight,  when 
a  final  search  was  made  for  any  persons  who 
might  still  be  adrift,  the  return  trip  to  France 
was  begun,  where  we  arrived  in  due  course 
of  time,  and  very  shortly  afterward  em- 
barked for  America  on  another  ship." 


144 


XXIV 
GUARDING  THE  TRANSPORTS 

THE  question  is  often  asked, — and  prob- 
ably nowhere  of  tener  than  in  Germany, 
— how  do  the  transports  elude  the  subma- 
rines? No  secret  is  made  of  the  methods 
of  defense.  Either  the  transport  depends 
upon  its  fleetness,  or  it  is  so  heavily  con- 
voyed that  the  most  determined  efforts  of 
the  Germans  is  of  no  avail. 

One  of  the  most  desperate  attempts  to 
"get"  a  heavily  laden  American  troop-ship 
occurred  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  when  no  less 
than  eight  German  submarines  lay  in  wait 
for  our  soldiers.  On  the  previous  eastward 
voyages  the  transport  had  sailed  without 
convoy,  and  had  been  met  on  approaching 
the  other  side  by  two  destroyers.  It  was  be- 
lieved that  she  was  especially  signaled  out  for 
attack,  however,  and  Rear-Admiral  Wilson, 
in  command  of  the  destroyer  flotilla  of  the 
147 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

American  Navy  operating  in  French  waters, 
sent  out  four  of  his  destroyers  as  a  precau- 
tion. 

The  transport,  with  thousands  of  Amer- 
ican soldiers  aboard,  was  nearing  the  French 
coast  at  dawn  one  morning,  when  two  Ger- 
man submarines  were  sighted  just  ahead. 
A  few  moments  later  two  more  U-boats  ap- 
peared off  the  starboard  side;  shortly  after 
two  more  just  ahead,  and  two  more  a  little 
distance  away  on  the  beam.  The  German 
attack  had  evidently  been  planned  in  detail. 
The  fleet,  comprising  eight  submarines  in  all, 
now  drew  together  on  the  starboard  side, 
which  was  the  side  away  from  that  on  which 
the  destroyers  usually  sailed.  It  was  evi- 
dently their  intention  to  sight  the  two  de- 
stroyers and,  of  course,  sink  the  transport. 

Several  torpedoes  were  soon  fired  at  the 
transport,  but  she  managed  to  elude  them  by 
steering  at  top  speed  in  a  series  of  rapid  zig- 
zags. The  naval  crew  of  the  transport 
opened  with  a  shot  from  the  six-inch  forward 
gun  on  the  starboard  side.  The  first  shot  hit 
the  conning-tower  of  one  of  the  U-boats.  A 
second  shot  a  few  seconds  later  struck  the 
148 


GUARDING  THE  TRANSPORTS 

same  submarine  amidships,  sinking  her  with 
all  her  crew.  The  destroyers  meanwhile 
had  reached  the  active  side  of  the  transport 
and  engaged  the  rest  of  the  fleet.  While  the 
U-boats  were  in  the  act  of  shooting  torpedoes 
at  the  Americans,  a  destroyer  with  several 
well  planted  shots  put  another  submarine 
quickly  out  of  commission,  finally  sending 
her  down. 

By  this  time  the  commander  of  the  fleet 
of  submarines  was  aware  of  the  fact  that 
four  destroyers  instead  of  two  were  arrayed 
against  him,  and,  signaling  to  the  other 
boats,  he  at  once  submerged.  As  the  last 
boat  disappeared  a  shot  from  one  of  the  de- 
stroyers struck  her  upper  works  and,  it  is 
believed,  sank  her.  All  four  of  the  destroy- 
ers were  above  the  points  where  the  sub- 
marines had  submerged,  and  the  fight  was 
continued  by  dropping  a  series  of  powerful 
depth  bombs.  Judging  from  the  agitation 
of  the  sea  following  the  explosion,  the  naval 
officers  feel  confident  that  they  accounted  for 
two  more  of  the  U-boats. 

Of  the  eight  submarines  making  the  at- 
tack, two  were  unmistakably  sunk  by  shell 
149 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

fire  from  the  transport  and  the  destroyers, 
and  three  others  are  believed  to  have  been 
sunk  by  depth  bombs,  while  three  got  away 
clear.  A  naval  officer  who  witnessed  the 
battle  reported  that  he  considered  it  the  most 
determined  attempt  the  Germans  had  made 
to  sink  a  transport  on  her  east-bound  trip. 
The  transport — which  was  one  of  the  largest 
and  fleetest  in  the  service — proceeded  in 
safety  to  her  French  port  of  destination. 

On  the  transport's  last  previous  east- 
bound  trip,  two  German  submarines  had 
come  to  the  surface  so  near  her  starboard 
quarter  that  they  could  not  find  room  to 
manceuver  into  position  to  fire  their  torpe- 
does. The  distance  was  so  short  that  it  also 
served  to  protect  the  Germans,  since  the  de- 
stroyers were  afraid  to  drop  their  depth 
bombs  for  fear  of  injuring  the  hull  or  the 
propellers  of  the  transport. 

The  marvelous  record  of  our  transports  in 
safely  transporting  a  great  army  through  the 
submarine-infested  waters  does  not  depend 
upon  chance  or  good  luck. 


150 


PART  III 
ON  AIR-SCOUT  DUTY 


XXV 
FIRST  TO  FLY 

A  DETACHMENT  of  naval  airmen 
were  the  first  Americans  to  arrive  in 
France  and  enter  active  service  against  the 
enemy.  It  is  a  matter  of  pride  in  the  Navy 
that  these  men  reached  foreign  soil  three 
weeks  before  the  first  transport  arrived 
bringing  the  army  forces.  The  airmen  had 
been  trained  for  active  service  on  this  side  of 
the  Atlantic,  and  were  quickly  hurried  to  the 
front.  Several  of  the  men  in  this  first  de- 
tachment have  since  lost  their  lives  in  flight 
work.  The  first,  Louis  Reindardt,  a  seaman 
of  the  second  class,  enlisted  at  Norfolk  in 
191 6.  The  second  of  the  airmen  to  lose  his 
life  was  George  Herbert  Manly. 

More  various  uses  have  been  found  for 
the  aircraft  in  connection  with  naval  opera- 
tions than  any  other  type  of  fighting  ma- 
153 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

chine.  At  the  opening  of  the  war  naval 
aeronautics  was  in  its  infancy.  To-day  the 
aircraft  department  is  one  of  the  main  de- 
pendencies of  the  fleets.  Their  activities 
have  been  classified  in  some  seventeen  dis- 
tinct divisions.  The  average  man  has  little 
conception  of  the  extent  of  their  actual  oper- 
ations. 

A  variety  of  types  of  seaplanes  and  dirigi- 
bles are  effectively  employed  in  making 
direct  attacks  upon  ships  and  submarines  at 
sea,  using  bombs,  torpedoes,  and  guns.  The 
same  craft  are  also  employed  in  bombing 
the  enemy's  bases  and  stations.  Naval  ex- 
perts of  a  generation  since  did  not  anticipate 
that  naval  craft  would  soon  actually  fly  over 
great  stretches  of  sea,  and  even  over  moun- 
tains, and  inflict  serious  damage.  To-day 
such  raids  are  commonplace. 

A  modern  armada  is  accompanied  by  a 
fleet  of  aircraft,  which  engages  the  aircraft 
of  the  enemy.  It  employs  aeroplanes  and 
seaplanes,  with  a  flying  radius  of  several 
hundreds  of  miles,  which  may  be  launched 
directly  from  the  decks  of  ships,  or  may  be 
lowered  alongside  and  rise  from  the  surface 
154 


FIRST  TO  FLY 

of  the  water.  Pictures  of  the  great  sea- 
plane carriers,  with  half  a  dozen  or  more 
large  aeroplanes  on  their  decks,  are  of  course 
familiar.  The  aircraft,  on  returning,  land 
on  the  surface  of  the  water,  and  are  re- 
trieved by  being  hoisted  to  their  stations. 

A  variety  of  aircraft  serve  as  the  eyes  and 
scouts  for  the  sea  fleets.  Trained  observers 
go  aloft  to  high  altitudes  in  dirigibles,  sea- 
planes, and  kite  balloons,  and  by  means  of 
direct  telephone  wires  or  by  wireless  keep 
their  bases  informed  of  the  position  of  the 
enemy.  The  same  types  of  machine  are  em- 
ployed to  protect  ships  at  sea  or  in  port 
against  attacks  from  hostile  submarines  or 
battleships. 

The  defense  of  naval  bases  from  both 
naval  and  aerial  attacks  is  largely  dependent 
at  present  upon  aircraft.  Everything  that 
flies  is  used  in  such  work.  The  dirigible  has 
been  superseded  for  raiding  purposes  by  the 
aeroplane.  We  hear  no  more  of  Zeppelin 
raids,  for  the  huge  craft  make  too  obvious  a 
target  for  aeroplane  attack.  The  dirigible 
still  plays  an  important  role,  nevertheless,  in 
patrolling  coasts,  searching  for  submarine 
155 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

bases,  spying  upon  suspicious  ships,  and  for 
convoying  fleets  at  sea. 

The  speed  of  the  seaplane  is  also  depended 
upon  to  prevent  hostile  aircraft  from  locat- 
ing the  positions  of  fleets  and  ascertaining 
the  number  and  the  nature  of  the  ships  that 
compose  it.  By  keeping  hostile  aircraft  at 
a  distance,  they  also  prevent  the  enemy  from 
getting  the  range  of  naval  bases,  magazines, 
and  other  stations.  Many  operations  are 
also  carried  over  land  and  sea  to  divert  the 
attention  and  mislead  the  enemy  while 
strategical  operations  are  being  carried  out. 

All  types  of  aircraft  are  also  employed  to 
cooperate  with  submarines  and  guide  them 
in  their  attacks  on  enemy  fleets  and  bases. 
In  many  scouting  trips  they  locate  the  pres- 
ence of  mine  fields  and  keep  their  fleets  in- 
formed of  their  position.  Much  valuable 
time  is  saved,  again,  in  planting  mines  by 
the  assistance  of  the  air  squadrons.  In  at- 
tacking hostile  ships  and  directing  gun  fire 
the  spotting  of  aircraft  is  invaluable. 

It  often  happens  that  messages  cannot  be 
transmitted,  even  by  wireless,  between  ships 
widely  separated  without  giving  the  enemy  a 
156 


FIRST  TO  FLY 

clue  as  to  the  ship's  position.  The  aircraft 
serve  as  despatch-bearers  in  carrying  mes- 
sages, at  a  rate  of  a  hundred  miles  an  hour 
or  more,  throughout  a  radius  of  hundreds  of 
miles. 


157 


XXVI 
EARLY  EXPLOITS 

THE  American  Navy  was  the  first  to  rec- 
ognize the  possibilities  of  aircraft  and 
to  organize  an  aviation  section.  The  officers 
who  ventured  aloft  in  many  experimental 
flights  faced  a  hazard  unique  in  naval  his- 
tory. To  their  daring  and  ingenuity  is  due 
much  of  the  development  of  the  air  service 
at  sea,  which  other  nations  have  been  quick 
to  utilize.  In  any  record  of  the  naval  heroes 
of  to-day  the  exploits  of  these  men,  who 
dared  so  much  for  the  advancement  of  their 
service,  deserve  to  be  remembered. 

The  first  naval  appropriation  for  aero- 
nautics in  history  was  made  by  Congress  in 
191 1.  In  view  of  the  war  budget  a  few 
years  later  counted  by  billions,  it  is  inter- 
esting to  recall  that  the  first  appropriation 
was  $25,000.  The  Navy  first  appointed 
three  officers  to  visit  the  aeroplane  factories 
158 


EARLY  EXPLOITS 

to  receive  instructions  in  flying.  At  that 
date  the  seaplane  was  unknown,  and  aero- 
planes had  not  yet  been  equipped  with  pon- 
toons to  support  them  on  the  water.  Some 
very  daring  experiments  were  carried  on  by 
these  officers  in  attempting  to  start  aero- 
planes by  a  cable  launching  device,  which  was 
the  nucleus  of  the  catapult  of  later  years. 

Considering  the  difficulties  and  dangers  of 
this  experimental  work,  the  progress  was  re- 
markable. From  April,  191 1,  to  August, 
1912,  some  593  flights  were  made  by  the  in- 
struction officers.  The  United  States  Navy 
at  this  period  owned  an  air  fleet  consisting  of 
three  aeroplanes.  In  the  winter  of  191 1  the 
aviation  camp  was  transferred  to  San  Diego, 
California;  later  it  was  established  at  An- 
napolis. 

The  first  aerial  reconnaissance  ever  made 
by  a  naval  officer  of  rank  was  flown  May  2, 
1912,  under  the  direction  of  Rear-Admiral 
Bradley  A.  Fiske,  then  commanding  the  Sec- 
ond Squadron  of  the  Atlantic  Fleet.  The 
aeroplane  in  this  historic  flight  flew  to  and 
landed  alongside  the  U.  S.  S.  Georgia,  the 
flagship  anchored  at  Salem  harbor.  Later 
159 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

Rear- Admiral  Fiske  flew  in  this  machine. 
A  sea  flight  was  made  a  few  weeks  later 
from  the  Aero  Station  near  Annapolis  to  the 
battle-ship  Louisiana  at  an  altitude  of  four 
hundred  feet,  which  aroused  world-wide  at- 
tention. In  the  same  year  a  world's  record 
was  established  in  flying  over  Chesapeake 
Bay,  when  the  officer  remained  aloft  for  six 
hours  and  ten  minutes.  Some  interesting 
experiments  were  also  made  in  communicat- 
ing by  wireless  electricity  between  an  aero- 
plane aloft  and  a  battle-ship.  The  aero- 
plane had  now  passed  the  experimental  stage 
and  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  arms  of  the 
fleet. 

The  United  States  Navy  was  also  the  first 
in  history  to  fly  under  war  conditions. 
When  the  mobilization  was  ordered  to  pro- 
ceed to  Mexican  waters  in  the  summer  of 
1914,  it  found  the  Navy  prepared.  The  or- 
ganization of  the  aero  division  is  shown  by 
the  promptness  with  which  it  was  able  to  act. 
Orders  were  received  at  the  Pensacola  sta- 
tion at  noon  on  Sunday,  April  19,  for  the 
First  Aeroplane  Section  to  embark  on  the 
Birmingham.  Within  six  hours  the  avail- 
160 


EARLY  EXPLOITS 

able  fleet  of  six  aeroplanes,  with  all  neces- 
sary parts  required  for  active  service,  two 
hangar  tents,  and  camp  equipment  for  three 
officers  and  ten  men  of  the  section  were  on 
the  dock.  The  Second  Aeronautical  Section 
was  no  less  prompt  in  embarking  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi. 

When  the  Mississippi,  with  the  Second 
Aeroplane  Section  on  board,  reached  Vera 
Cruz  on  April  25,  an  aeroplane  was  in  the  air 
five  minutes  after  she  dropped  anchor.  On 
every  day  following  flights  were  made;  some- 
times the  aeroplanes  went  aloft  several  times 
a  day.  The  navy  aeroplanes  scouted  along 
the  outposts  and  far  beyond  the  lines,  pre- 
paring maps  of  the  country  and  observing 
the  position  of  the  Mexican  forces. 

For  some  time  America  held  the  distinc- 
tion of  having  not  only  the  first  but  the  most 
highly  developed  aeronautical  section  of  any 
navy  in  the  world.  With  the  progress  of  the 
war  America  fell  behind  and  was  soon  out- 
classed. Her  activities  to-day  may  enable 
her  to  regain  her  position  of  the  first  naval 
air  force. 


161 


XXVII 
AN  AIR  BATTLE 

THERE  is  no  better  raw  material  in  the 
world  for  the  making  of  heroes  than  is 
to  be  found  in  America.  Ensign  Stephen 
Potter,  U.  S.  N.  R.,  was  enrolled  as  a  second- 
class  seaman  in  the  Naval  Flying  Corps,  on 
September  26,  1917,  and  was  made  an  ensign 
November  2  of  the  same  year.  On  Novem- 
ber 12  he  was  ordered  to  France,  and  was 
sent  to  England  on  January  18,  19 18,  for 
active  service.  The  dates  are  eloquent,  indi- 
cating as  they  do  how  quickly  the  average 
American  youth  may  be  transformed  into  a 
skilful  flyer. 

Within  six  weeks  of  his  enrolment  Potter 
had  acquired  an  experience  in  this  difficult 
and  dangerous  service  that  made  it  possible 
for  him  to  go  to  France,  and  in  a  little  more 
than  a  month  he  saw  actual  air  service  at  the 
front.  There  are  doubtless  thousands  of 
162 


- 


<: 


> 


AN  AIR  BATTLE 

similar  cases,  but  Potter  has  been  singled 
out  by  the  Government  because  of  his  bril- 
liant subsequent  record  and  the  stirring  air 
battle  in  which  he  met  his  death. 

The  records  show  that  Potter  had  been  fly- 
ing in  actual  service  scarcely  six  weeks  when 
he  met  a  German  seaplane  in  Heligoland 
Bight  and  in  a  brilliant  air  fight  shot  it  down. 
His  last  battle  occurred  April  25  over  the 
North  Sea.  He  was  serving  at  the  time  as 
second  pilot  to  a  British  Royal  Air  Force 
captain.  While  out  on  scout  duty,  he  was 
overtaken  by  a  formidable  German  fleet  of 
seven  single-seaters,  and  found  himself  hope- 
lessly outclassed;  but  he  sold  his  life  dearly. 

Potter's  last  air  battle  is  one  of  the  most 
daring  in  the  history  of  air  conflicts.  The 
report  of  the  engagement  that  follows,  re- 
ceived from  the  London  representative  of 
the  Committee  on  Public  Information,  needs 
no  elaboration. 

Potter  left  a  North  Sea  station  in  a  British 
seaplane,  and  steered  due  east  until  six  miles 
W.  S.  W.  north  of  Hinder  light.  Another 
plane  accompanied  Potter,  keeping  a  posi- 
tion to  starboard  throughout  the  action. 
165 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

Two  enemy  planes  were  sighted  to  port, 
heading  toward  them,  flying  low.  Both 
British  planes  dived  about  a  hundred  yards 
apart,  closing  upon  the  nearest  German. 

Fire  opened  from  both  at  close  range. 

Potter's  companion  had  emptied  one  drum 
from  the  forward  cockpit  when  the  gun 
jammed.  Two  more  hostile  planes  then  ap- 
peared overhead,  attacking  vigorously. 
Both  Britons  turned  to  the  west,  pursuing 
one  of  the  lower  enemy,  who  was  soon  lost 
to  view.  Three  others  passed  astern,  fol- 
lowed at  a  sharp  angle.  Potter  was  close 
above  his  companion,  and  dove  to  within  a 
hundred  feet  of  the  water. 

Both  machines  flattened  out,  and  Potter's 
companion,  being  faster,  throttled  down  un- 
til Potter  came  abreast.  They  ran  west- 
ward in  this  formation  at  full  speed  for  sev- 
eral minutes,  under  continuous  volleys  from 
the  rear. 

Four  more  enemy  machines  now  appeared 
in  V  formation.  Of  the  seven  Germans  in 
action,  four  attacked  Potter,  and  the  others 
engaged  his  companion.  Potter  fell  behind 
and  began  to  zigzag.  He  first  veered 
1 66 


AN  AIR  BATTLE 

slightly  to  starboard,  then  turned  at  right 
angles  to  port. 

Again  his  companion  throttled  down  to 
let  him  catch  up,  and  began  climbing  to  re- 
duce headway.  Potter  dodged  again,  but 
was  then  broadside  to  all  enemy  machines, 
and  under  their  fire  only  fifty  feet  from  the 
water.  His  companion,  flying  above  saw, 
Potter's  machine  burst  into  flames,  come 
down  part  of  the  way  under  control,  then 
crash  on  the  port  wing-tip. 

Potter  was  last  seen  on  the  surface  amid 
flames  that  turned  suddenly  to  a  huge  cloud 
of  smoke. 

Two  of  the  enemy  circled  over  the  spot, 
then  joined  the  other  five.  When  the  pall 
had  cleared,  not  even  wreckage  was  visible. 

The  commanding  officer  of  the  station 
from  which  Potter  went  aloft  on  his  last 
flight  added  the  following  comment  to  the  of- 
ficial report  of  the  air  battle : 

"Potter  always  displayed  the  greatest  eag- 
erness to  fly  at  all  times.  On  the  long  re- 
connaissance in  which  he  shot  down  the  Ger- 
man aeroplane  he  showed  courage  and  cool- 
ness. He  was  very  popular  at  this  station." 
167 


XXVIII 
A  SEAPLANE  WRECK 

WITH  the  appearance  of  the  seaplane 
in  our  Navy  has  come  a  new  test  of 
courage.  The  pilot  and  observer  aboard 
these  frail  aircraft  in  their  long  scouting 
trips  at  sea  face  a  unique  danger.  In  case 
of  accident  on  a  surface  craft  the  life-boats 
give  the  sailor  a  fighting  chance  of  escape. 
The  worst  catastrophe  to  ordinary  craft,  too, 
falls  less  swiftly.  The  airman  finds  gravity 
a  very  exacting  master.  Let  his  engine 
stall  or  any  one  of  a  hundred  possible  acci- 
dents befall  his  delicate  craft  with  its  com- 
plicated machinery,  and  his  descent  is  meas- 
ured by  seconds  only.  Even  if  he  carry 
wireless  equipment,  there  is  likely  to  be  little 
chance  to  use  it  to  summon  help,  and  the  air- 
craft carries  no  life-boats  for  navigating 
either  air  or  water. 

After  a  rapid  volplane  to  the  surface  the 
aviator's  plight  is  likely  to  be  serious.     The 
168 


A  SEAPLANE  WRECK 

fragile  pontoons  on  which  his  aircraft  rests 
offer  very  slight  support.  His  aeroplane  is 
in  no  sense  seaworthy,  and  he  is  at  the  mercy 
of  every  wave.  He  is  without  oars  or  other 
means  of  propulsion,  and  must  lie  chained  to 
his  curious  wreck.  The  wreck  of  the  sea- 
plane carrying  Ensign  E.  A.  Stone,  U.  S. 
Naval  Reserve,  is  unique  in  naval  history. 
Forced  to  descend  to  the  surface  of  the  water 
while  far  out  at  sea,  Stone  and  his  companion 
floated  for  eighty  hours  and  lived  out  a 
severe  storm  before  relief  arrived. 

The  American  sailor  acting  as  a  pilot  of  a 
British  seaplane,  with  Sub-Lieutenant  Eric 
Moore  of  the  Royal  Naval  Air  Service,  had 
started  out  to  convoy  patrols  from  a  British 
port.  Land  was  far  out  of  sight  when  the 
periscope  of  a  German  submarine  was 
sighted,  and  the  aircraft  at  once  started  in 
pursuit.  It  was  unsuccessful  in  picking  up 
the  German,  and  meanwhile  lost  its  way. 
Some  two  and  a  half  hours  later  the  engine 
dropped  dead,  and  the  airmen  were  forced  to 
descend  to  the  surface  of  a  rough  sea.  The 
situation  in  which  the  men  found  themselves 
is  described  in  Stone's  own  words: 
169 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

''We  had  no  kite  or  radio  to  call  for  assist- 
ance, so  we  released  our  two  carrier-pigeons. 
We  tied  a  message  with  our  position  and  the 
word  sinking  on  each.  The  first  bird,  a  blue- 
barred  one,  flew  straight  off  and  reached 
home.  But  the  other,  which  was  white 
checked,  lit  on  our  machine  and  would  not 
budge  until  Moore  threw  a  navigation  clock 
at  him,  which  probably  upset  him  so  that  he 
failed  us." 

The  sea  rose,  meanwhile,  until  the  waves 
broke  the  frail  wings  of  the  aeroplane,  caus- 
ing them  to  sink.  It  soon  became  clear  that 
the  machine  was  being  slowly  but  steadily 
drawn  down  by  the  stern,  thus  turning  her 
over.  To  lessen  the  impact  of  the  waves, 
the  airmen  tore  away  the  covering  of  the 
wings,  but  she  continued  to  go  down.  The 
aeroplane  finally  rose  perpendicularly  in  the 
air,  and  the  men  were  obliged  to  climb  over 
her  nose  and  cling  to  the  under  side  of  the 
pontoons.  Since  these  consisted  merely  of 
light  frames  covered  with  thin  plate  metal, 
their  buoyancy  was  not  great.  Stories  of 
suffering  from  hunger  at  sea  are  common, 
170 


A  SEAPLANE  WRECK 

but  the  experience  of  the  wrecked  airmen  in 
this  respect  is  peculiarly  trying.  Ensign 
Stone  says,  in  writing  of  these  hours : 

"Our  emergency  ration  had  been  in  the 
observer's  seat  at  the  back,  but  we  had  been 
so  busy  in  trying  to  repair  the  motor  and 
save  ourselves  from  turning  over  that  we 
didn't  remember  this  until  too  late.  When 
I  crawled  aft  for  food,  Moore  saw  that  I  was 
only  helping  the  machine  to  capsize.  He 
yelled  to  me  to  come  back,  and  I  did,  just  in 
time  to  save  myself  from  being  carried  down 
with  the  tail  and  drowned. 

"From  then  on,  for  nearly  four  days,  until 
picked  up  by  a  trawler,  we  were  continually 
soaked  and  lashed  by  seas,  and  with  nothing 
to  eat  or  drink.  We  had  nothing  to  cling 
to,  and  so,  to  keep  from  being  washed  over- 
board, we  got  upon  the  same  pontoon  and 
hugged  our  arms  around  each  other's  bodies 
for  the  whole  time. 

"We  suffered  from  thirst.  I  had  a  crav- 
ing for  canned  peaches.  Twice  a  drizzle 
came  on,  wetting  the  pontoon.  We  turned 
on  our  stomachs  and  lapped  up  the  moisture, 
171 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

but  the  paint  came  off,  with  the  salt,  and 
nauseated  us. 

"Our  limbs  grew  numb.  From  time  to 
time  the  wreckage  from  torpedoed  ships 
would  pass.  Once  two  biscuit  tins  came 
near  enough  to  swim  for ;  but  by  then,  in  our 
weakened  state,  we  knew  that  we  would 
drown  if  we  tried  to  get  them.  We  did 
haul  in  a  tin  and  break  it  open.  It  was  filled 
with  tobacco." 

The  shipwrecked  sailor  in  an  open  boat  or 
even  on  a  raft  suffers  less  than  men  aboard 
a  wrecked  seaplane.  The  airmen  could  not 
lie  down  or  stretch  themselves,  and  the  effort 
of  holding  to  the  wreck  in  the  rough  seas 
was  very  exhausting.  They  had  no  mast  on 
which  to  raise  a  flag,  or  lights  to  attract  the 
attention  of  passing  boats.  Several  ships 
passed  within  a  comparatively  short  distance 
without  sighting  the  low-lying  wreck  of  the 
aircraft.  These  airmen  were  doubtless  the 
first  shipwrecked  seamen  in  the  history  of 
the  seas  to  sight  an  aeroplane.  Let  the  air 
pilot  tell  the  experience  in  his  own  words : 

"On  Monday  afternoon  a  seaplane  came 
from  the  west.  It  was  flying  only  800  feet 
172 


A  SEAPLANE  WRECK 

over  our  head,  aiming  down  the  Channel. 
It  seemed  impossible  that  she  could  not  sight 
us,  for  the  air  was  perfectly  clear.  She 
passed  straight  above,  without  making  any 
signal,  flew  two  miles  beyond,  and  came  back 
on  her  course. 

"  'Her  observer  must  be  sending  wireless 
about  us,'  I  said. 

"  'Yes ;  that  is  why  we  get  no  recognition/ 
said  Moore;  'and  now  she's  decided  to  go 
back  and  report.' 

"But  the  plane  had  not  even  seen  us.  Our 
spirits  fell." 

It  was  not  until  after  eighty  hours  had 
been  spent  on  the  wrecked  seaplane  that  help 
came.  A  trawler  sighted  them,  and,  mis- 
taking them  for  Germans,  approached  war- 
ily. Both  men  were  too  weak  to  stand  up 
and  signal,  but  the  ship  finally  drew  near  and 
the  men  were  lifted  aboard.  Later  they 
learned  that  every  machine  from  the  sea- 
plane bases,  and  even  those  from  a  station 
on  the  French  coast,  had  flown  continually 
for  three  days  over  the  sea  in  search  of  them. 

Ensign  Stone,  who  is  a  native  of  Norfolk, 
enlisted  as  a  seaman,  was  trained  as  an  avi- 
*73 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

ator,  and  attached  to  the  naval  air  station 
at  Hampton  Roads.  While  flying  abroad  he 
served  under  the  commander  of  the  United 
States  naval  forces  for  patrol  duty. 


174 


XXIX 
A  BALLOON  WRECK 

THE  first  American  medal  to  be  awarded 
for  "extraordinary  heroism"  in  the  war 
with  Germany  was  presented  to  Patrick  Mc- 
Gunigal,  a  ship's  fitter  of  the  U.S.S.  Hunt- 
ington. No  matter  what  position  a  man 
may  fill  in  the  United  States  Navy,  he  may 
be  counted  upon  to  respond  instantly  to  a 
call  for  help.  The  hero  is  often  a  man  with 
no  special  preparation  for  the  work  de- 
manded. 

In  the  long  history  of  the  Navy  it  might 
be  imagined  that  every  conceivable  form  of 
accident  would  be  a  commonplace,  but  Mc- 
Gunigal  nevertheless  faced  a  danger  new  to 
the  seas.  A  lieutenant  had  gone  aloft  in  a 
balloon  to  make  observations,  when  a  squall 
struck  his  unwieldy  craft  so  suddenly  that 
he  had  no  time  to  save  it.  The  captive  bal- 
loon is  a  novelty  on  shipboard,  and  the  crews 
i75 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

are  as  yet  scarcely  familiar  with  all  the  tricks 
that  the  wind  may  play  with  it. 

A  balloon  is  in  no  sense  shipshape.  Un- 
der the  most  favorable  conditions  it  is  an 
awkward,  unwieldy  thing  to  handle.  The 
inflation  even  of  a  small  observation  balloon 
requires  skill  and  patience.  The  generators 
must  be  carefully  adjusted  and  the  huge 
silken  bag  kept  under  control  with  difficulty 
while  it  slowly  fills.  A  considerable  force 
of  men  is  required  for  the  work. 

No  other  activity  on  shipboard  is  so  much 
at  the  mercy  of  the  weather.  A  gust  of 
wind  that  would  pass  unnoticed  under  ordi- 
nary conditions  is  anxiously  watched  by  the 
balloon  crew.  A  light  breeze  is  enough  to 
make  the  captive  balloon  toss  about  and 
strain  at  its  ropes.  The  fabric,  too,  is  so 
delicate  that  contact  with  some  metal  corner 
of  the  ship's  upper  works  may  tear  it. 

Once  inflated  and  the  observer's  basket 
attached,  the  balloon  ropes  must  be  paid  out 
skilfully  until  it  is  free  from  the  ship. 
Should  it  swing  against  hot  metal,  there  is 
imminent  danger  of  an  explosion.  The 
wind  must  be  closely  watched,  since  every 
176 


A  BALLOON  WRECK 

gust  is  a  menace  to  the  balloon  and  its  pas- 
sengers. Even  when  it  has  risen  above  the 
level  of  the  stacks,  the  towering  steel  obser- 
vation masts  of  our  battle-ships  menace  it 
until  the  balloon  is  well  aloft. 

In  drawing  down  and  housing  the  ship's 
balloon  the  dangers  are  repeated.  The  bal- 
loon must,  besides,  be  kept  inflated  for  days 
at  a  time.  It  is  usually  lashed  as  securely 
as  possible  on  the  after-deck,  where  it  takes 
up  a  surprising  amount  of  valuable  space. 
A  ship  thus  equipped  appears  to  have  some 
curious  swelling  or  excrescence  bulging  high 
above  the  turrets.  In  case  of  a  blow  the 
silken  bag,  even  in  this  position,  offers  so 
much  surface  to  the  wind  that  it  is  often 
difficult  to  keep  it  in  place. 

The  captive  balloon  on  the  U.S.S.  Hunt- 
ington had  been  struck  by  a  squall,  driven 
down,  and  soused  into  the  sea  in  a  flash. 
The  officer  observer  in  the  basket  was  drawn 
under  the  water,  and  on  rising  found  him- 
self a  prisoner  amid  a  tangle  of  ropes  in 
the  partially  submerged  basket.  A  wrecked 
balloon  is  an  exceedingly  dangerous  craft. 
The  air-filled  bag  is,  of  course,  practically 
177 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

unsinkable,  but  it  also  drives  before  the 
wind.  The  basket  may  be  compared  to  a 
tilted  pail  as  it  is  dragged  along  the  water 
in  the  wake  of  the  balloon.  The  inflated 
silk  proves  very  elusive.  A  man  cannot  dig 
his  nails  into  the  soft  silk,  and  it  sinks  like 
a  pillow  under  his  weight  if  he  tries  to 
climb  on  it. 

The  officer  in  the  basket  was  drenched  and 
blinded  by  the  water.  McGunigal  was  the 
first  to  reach  the  wreck.  He  climbed  down 
the  ship's  side  and,  dragging  a  rope  after 
him,  swam  to  the  balloon.  The  basket  filled 
and  sank,  and  McGunigal,  while  supporting 
the  exhausted  officer,  struggled  with  the  tan- 
gle of  ropes. 

While  supporting  the  officer  with  one  arm, 
McGunigal  tried  desperately  to  hold  to  the 
balloon  for  support.  It  continued  to  elude 
him,  sinking  at  the  slightest  touch  or  driv- 
ing ahead  before  the  wind  with  each  gust, 
and  pulling  the  two  men  along  in  its  wake. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  of  a  more 
baffling  object.  But  a  drowning  man  will 
grasp  at  a  straw — or  a  submerged  balloon. 
McGunigal  managed  to  fasten  the  rope  he 
178 


A  BALLOON  WRECK 

carried  about  the  officer,  who  was  now  thor- 
oughly exhausted,  and  the  two  were  finally 
drawn  on  board. 


179 


XXX 

AIR  COAST  PATROL 

THE  exploit  of  the  first  naval  dirigible  to 
be  detailed  on  actual  submarine  scout 
duty  in  home  waters  is  typical  of  this  dan- 
gerous service.  The  names  of  the  pilot  and 
of  the  student  who  made  the  flight  have  been 
censored  by  the  naval  authorities. 

Profiting  by  French  and  English  experi- 
ence in  building  such  aircraft,  the  new 
American  naval  dirigible  is  especially  effi- 
cient. It  is  of  the  general  "blimp"  type. 
Beneath  a  cigar-shaped  balloon  envelope  is 
suspended  a  serviceable  car  carrying  the 
engines  and  the  crew,  which,  unlike  many 
European  dirigibles,  will  float  upon  the  sur- 
face of  the  water. 

The  craft  will  rise  rapidly  to  great  alti- 
tudes, and  may  be  driven  under  favorable 
conditions  at  a  speed  of  forty  miles  an  hour 
or  better.     Like  other  lighter-than-air  ma- 
180 


AIR  COAST  PATROL 

chines,  the  naval  dirigible  can  maintain  a 
stationary  position  in  the  air,  which  renders 
it  especially  valuable  for  scout  work.  It  can 
therefore  do  some  scout  work  better  than 
the  aeroplane — in  its  present  stage  of  de- 
velopment. 

The  aeroplane  scout  makes  much  faster 
time  than  a  dirigible  covering  a  wider  area ; 
but  the  aeroplane  must  maintain  a  constant 
speed  of  fifty  miles  an  hour  or  so,  which 
makes  close  observation  difficult.  If  the 
sea  be  rough  or  obscured  by  fog,  it  is  a  very 
easy  matter  in  such  rapid  flight  to  miss  so 
small  an  object  as  the  periscope  of  a  subma- 
rine. From  the  car  of  the  new  naval  dirig- 
ible, whose  flight  may- be  stopped  at  any  mo- 
ment, the  observer  can  observe  more  closely. 

When  the  first  submarine  raid  was  made 
on  American  shipping  off  the  Atlantic  coast, 
it  found  the  Navy  in  readiness  for  scout 
service.  The  Government  has  not  permitted 
any  definite  figures  to  be  published  as  to  the 
strength  of  the  scouting  fleet  of  aircraft  en- 
gaged in  the  work,  but  it  was  probably  num- 
bered by  hundreds.  While  the  torpedo- 
boats  and  submarine-chasers  were  scouring 
183 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

the  waters  for  the  enemy,  the  most  formi- 
dable air  fleet  ever  assembled  in  America 
was  soon  aloft,  scouting"  far  out  to  sea. 
From  the  various  coast  resorts  the  air  fleets 
were  watched  day  after  day  as  they  pa- 
trolled back  and  forth  at  regular  intervals 
with  the  regularity  of  a  railroad  schedule. 

The  service  aloft  in  these  scouting  craft 
is  a  very  daunting  business.  It  is  extremely 
creditable  to  the  hundreds  of  naval  airmen 
that  they  should  have  responded  so  quickly 
and  acquitted  themselves  so  well  in  this  new 
experience.  Few,  if  any,  of  these  men  had 
ever  seen  active  service.  The  scouting 
trips  carried  them  far  out  of  sight  of  land. 
In  case  of  accident  they  might  find  them- 
selves far  from  assistance  in  the  open  sea. 

Much  of  the  time  the  weather  was  unfa- 
vorable and  the  air  fleets  faced  high  winds. 
The  reader  will  readily  recall  the  fact  that 
but  a  few  years  since  an  airman  who  went 
aloft  took  his  life  in  his  hands  and  his  flight 
was  watched  with  breathless  interest.  To- 
day the  Navy  comprises  tens  of  thousands 
of  men  who  not  only  take  their  aircraft  aloft 
'  184 


AIR  COAST  PATROL 

under  the  most  dangerous  weather  condi- 
tions but  are  prepared  to  fight  as  well. 
Every  member  of  the  great  scouting  fleet 
may  be  said  to  have  shown  conspicuous 
bravery. 

One  of  the  scouting  dirigibles,  however, 
deserves  special  mention.  It  had  started  out 
from  the  naval  station  at  Cape  May,  carry- 
ing a  pilot  and  a  student  aviator.  So  fleet 
are  these  craft  that  it  was  ordered  to  patrol 
the  entire  length  of  the  New  Jersey  coast 
from  Cape  May  to  Sandy  Hook.  While 
flying  far  out  at  a  point  forty-five  miles 
southeast  of  Sandy  Hook,  the  engines  be- 
came disabled  and  the  dirigible  was  forced 
to  descend. 

The  dirigible  had  planned  to  scout  off 
shore  the  length  of  the  New  Jersey  coast 
and  return  before  night.  When  the  time 
for  her  arrival  had  passed,  a  fleet  of  sea- 
planes and  destroyers  was  sent  out,  and 
searched  throughout  the  night,  but  without 
finding  any  trace  of  her.  The  crew  of  the 
wrecked  dirigible,  meanwhile,  pluckily  la- 
bored for  hours  to  get  the  engines  to  work, 
185 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

without  success.  Several  passing  ships  were 
sighted  at  a  distance,  but  they  failed  to  sight 
the  dirigible. 

After  many  hours  in  this  extremely  peril- 
ous position,  the  dirigible  was  sighted  by  the 
schooner  Luther  Little  and  brought  safely 
to  New  York.  Three  other  naval  airmen 
were  wrecked  in  a  similar  manner,  and  were 
missing  for  three  days,  but  succeeded  in 
bringing  back  their  aircraft.  It  is  gratify- 
ing to  know  that  the  naval  airmen  were  found 
well  prepared  for  service  and  that  hundreds 
of  aircraft  were  able  to  fly  for  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  miles  under  difficult  conditions 
without  the  loss  of  a  single  man. 


186 


XXXI 

SPOTTING  THE  FALL  OF  SHOTS 

DURING  a  naval  engagement  the  most 
exposed  position  in  the  entire  fleet  is 
probably  that  of  the  men  who  go  aloft  to 
spot  the  fall  of  shots.  Whether  his  observa- 
tions be  made  from  a  kite  balloon  or  an 
aeroplane,  he  becomes  a  tempting  target  for 
the  enemy's  fire.  The  great  bulk  of  a  bal- 
loon tethered  to  the  masts  of  the  battle-ship 
is  clearly  visible  for  miles,  while  the  white 
wings  of  an  aeroplane  are  always  conspicu- 
ous. The  observer  in  such  a  craft  is  abso- 
lutely without  protection  of  any  kind,  and  a 
lucky  shot  brings  him  down  with  a  rush. 

A  writer  of  fiction  who  prophesied  years 
ago  the  use  of  aircraft  with  the  navies 
questioned  whether  men  could  be  found  to 
face  calmly  so  great  a  hazard  as  these  flights 
required.  He  dwelt  upon  the  horrors  of  a 
fall  from  a  great  altitude,  and  the  insecurity 
187 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

of  the  position,  drawing  a  fairly  accurate 
picture  of  the  service  that  is  to-day  a  com- 
monplace. His  doubts  have  been  definitely 
answered.  Aeronautical  work  is  now  prob- 
ably the  most  popular  branch  of  the  service. 

The  records  of  the  Navy  Department  fail 
to  mention  any  award  of  merit  for  conspicu- 
ous bravery  among  the  aero  observers.  It  is 
a  high  tribute  to  the  courage  of  the  men  that 
this  exceedingly  difficult  and  dangerous  work 
should  have  been  performed  satisfactorily 
for  years,  and  is  looked  upon  merely  as  an 
every-day  affair  undeserving  special  men- 
tion. 

The  observers  are  carried  aloft  by  aero- 
planes, naval  dirigible  balloons,  kite  balloons, 
and  ordinary  captive  balloons.  Each  form 
of  aircraft  has  some  advantage  of  its  own; 
all  are  distinctly  perilous.  From  a  position 
above  the  fighting-ships  the  observer  must 
not  only  coolly  face  the  danger  of  instant 
destruction,  but  his  observations  require  him, 
at  the  same  time,  to  make  complicated  math- 
ematical calculations.  A  man  may  find 
courage  to  control  himself  and  look  down 
1 88 


SPOTTING  THE  FALL  OF  SHOTS 

the  mouth  of  an  enemy's  gun,  but  it  is  an- 
other thing  at  such  a  time  to  make  use  of 
his  knowledge  of  higher  mathematics. 

The  observer  in  a  captive  balloon  commu- 
nicates with  his  base,  as  a  rule,  by  means  of 
a  telephone  running  down  the  rope  that  teth- 
ers him  to  his  ship.  He  sits  in  the  basket 
with  a  telephone  receiver  clasped  to  his  ears 
and  a  transmitter  before  him,  leaving  both 
hands  free.  With  his  glasses  trained  on 
the  enemy's  position,  he  can  report  his  ob- 
servation without  the  delay  of  a  second. 
The  value  of  such  observations  are  obvious. 

An  aeroplane  or  a  naval  dirigible,  being 
detached,  may  cruise  to  any  distance,  and 
has  a  much  better  chance  of  dodging  the 
enemy's  fire.  The  observations  in  this  case 
are  transmitted  by  wireless  telegraphy.  Un- 
til the  war  came,  observers  were  seriously 
hampered  by  the  lack  of  light  and  efficient 
wireless  apparatus.  The  equipment  weighed 
from  three  to  five  pounds  per  mile  of  trans- 
mission. Their  radius  was  thus  very  lim- 
ited. In  two  years  the  weight  of  such  ap- 
paratus was  reduced,  however,  to  only  one 
189 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

pound  per  mile  of  transmission,  and  the  car- 
rying capacity  of  all  forms  of  aircraft  was 
at  the  same  time  greatly  increased. 

It  is  necessary  for  the  observer  in  an 
aeroplane  or  a  dirigible  to  be  an  expert  wire- 
less operator  or  to  carry  an  assistant.  It 
requires  a  good  mental  poise  to  use  one's 
knowledge  of  so  complicated  a  science  when 
exposed  under  fire  at  high  altitude,  but  there 
is  no  lack  of  volunteers  for  this  difficult  post. 

The  efficiency  of  gun  fire  has  been  enor- 
mously increased  with  the  assistance  of  these 
observers.  From  an  altitude  of  perhaps 
several  miles  they  can  look  directly  down 
upon  the  enemy.  If  a  shot  falls  short  or 
goes  too  far,  the  gunners  are  instantly  in- 
formed and  can  correct  their  aim  for  the 
next  discharge.  Since  the  gun  fire  of  mod- 
ern battle-ships  is  marvelously  accurate,  a 
word  is  sufficient.  There  have  been  in- 
stances of  observers  giving  such  minute  di- 
rections to  their  gun  crews  that  a  particular 
part  of  a  ship  has  been  struck,  not  once  but 
repeatedly,  at  a  distance  of  several  miles. 

With  the  aid  of  the  observers,  the  long- 
range  guns  of  the  battle-ships  may  be  used 
190 


SPOTTING  THE  FALL  OF  SHOTS 

to  bombard  cities  and  ships  on  waterways 
far  inland.  The  target  may  be  miles  dis- 
tant, and  separated  by  intervening  moun- 
tains and  wooded  country ;  yet  shots  thus  di- 
rected have  struck  within  a  few  feet  of  the 
target. 


191 


XXXII 
AIR  SCOUTING 

WHEN  the  history  of  the  war  comes 
to  be  written,  it  will  be  found  that 
the  naval  air  pilots  have  taken  a  major  part 
in  turning  the  scales  against  the  submarine. 
When  a  new  line  of  attack  was  demanded  to 
overcome  this  menace,  the  naval  air  pilot 
rose  to  the  occasion.  By  many  long  and  per- 
ilous vigils,  by  day  and  night,  above  the  sea 
lanes,  he  has  put  fear  into  the  hearts  of  the 
U-boats'  crews. 

Naval  aircraft  are  counted  by  thousands. 
With  the  progress  of  the  war  the  most  fan- 
tastic dreams  of  romances  have  been  real- 
ized. These  fleets  go  aloft,  patrol  extended 
areas,  and  return  with  the  regularity  of  a 
railroad  schedule.  Thousands  of  square 
miles  of  water  are  thus  kept  under  constant 
observation.  Even  so  small  an  object  as 
the  periscope  of  a  submarine  cannot  long 
escape  their  observation. 
192 


AIR  SCOUTING 

These  air  fleets  must  be  manned  by  a 
highly  specialized  personnel.  Apart  from 
the  skill  and  experience  required  by  the  pilot 
in  making  long  air  cruises,  the  observer  must 
be  especially  fitted  for  his  work.  One  of  the 
great  advantages  of  such  craft  is  the  oppor- 
tunity they  afford  for  "deep  sea  vision." 
The  phase  is  new  in  naval  terms.  From  a 
point  directly  above,  the  observer  is  able  to 
look  down  into  the  water  to  surprising 
depths.  He  can  spy  upon  submarines,  even 
when  submerged  to  a  depth  of  a  hundred 
feet,  which  would  be  invisible  to  any  other 
craft. 

Before  being  intrusted  with  the  post  of 
observer,  the  naval  aero  observer  requires 
long  technical  training.  The  depth  at  which 
a  submarine  may  be  observed  depends  upon 
the  color  of  the  floor  of  the  sea  and  on  that 
of  the  sky.  A  thousand  details  must  be 
mastered.  A  different  experience  in  train- 
ing is  required  for  the  men  who  observe  from 
a  scouting  aeroplane  or  from  a  "blimp" — a 
balloon  with  an  aeroplane  chassis  attached 
beneath  it.  The  chassis  carries  the  motor 
and  propeller,  these  being  supported  by  the 
193 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

balloon  instead  of  by  wings.  The  propeller 
drives  the  chassis  through  the  air,  and  the 
balloon  is  drawn  along  after  it.  The  ob- 
server in  a  "blimp"  can  travel  forty  miles 
an  hour,  but  he  can  also  hover  or  come  to 
rest  in  mid-air,  and  remain  in  a  stationary 
position  for  an  indefinite  time.  The  aero- 
plane, on  the  other  hand,  may  have  a  speed 
of  more  than  a  hundred  miles  an  hour,  but 
it  cannot  slow  down  to  less  than  thirty  miles 
without  danger  of  falling. 

The  American  Navy  has  for  several  years 
been  actively  training  air  pilots  and  observ- 
ers. It  is  not  generally  known  that  the  first 
submarine  hunt  in  America  occurred  as  early 
as  March  26,  191 7.  Two  U-boats  were  re- 
ported one  day  off  the  Long  Island  shore, 
"lying  in  toward  the  Sound."  The  report 
proved  to  be  a  false  alarm,  but  it  found  the 
naval  authorities  on  the  alert.  Four  flyers 
rose  from  Mineola  and  Governor's  Island, 
and,  in  the  face  of  a  forty-mile  wind  with 
rain  and  fog,  scouted  off  the  Long  Island 
shore.  The  aeroplanes  went  out  to  sea  from 
five  to  seven  miles.  The  search  lasted  for 
three  days. 

194 


AIR  SCOUTING 

,The  first  report  of  the  submarine  raid  on 
American  shipping  off  our  coast  early  in  1918 
found  the  Navy  well  prepared.  No  official 
figures  are  available,  for  obvious  reasons; 
but  it  is  known  that  several  hundred  aero- 
planes, manned  with  experienced  pilots  and 
observers,  were  ready  for  duty.  Within  a 
few  hours  the  whir  of  their  propellers  might 
be  heard  along  the  coast  from  Maine  to 
Florida.  The  patrol  covered  thousands  of 
miles  without  a  serious  accident. 

The  pilots  and  observers  are  also  trained 
in  bomb-dropping.  The  men  first  receive 
technical  instruction  which  enables  them  to 
calculate  the  trajectory  of  a  bomb  in  falling 
from  an  aeroplane  in  rapid  flight.  He  prac- 
tises with  an  ingenious  contrivance,  drop- 
ping weights  upon  a  miniature  landscape  or 
sea  dotted  with  ships.  In  many  flights  he 
learns  to  drop  dummy  bombs  upon  a  variety 
of  targets.  A  great  force  of  alert  American 
boys  are  already  actively  engaged  in  such 
naval  patrol  work  abroad  and  at  home,  while 
a  much  larger  force  is  receiving  instruction. 

No  flying  is  probably  at  once  so  perilous 
and  so  fascinating  as  the  night  reconnais- 
195 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

sance  work.  As  a  rule,  only  the  most  expe- 
rienced and  dependable  air  pilots  are  in- 
trusted with  such  details.  These  airmen 
must  fly  practically  blindfolded.  Since  the 
earth  is  hidden,  the  pilot  must  depend  largely 
upon  his  sense  of  equilibrium  to  tell  him  at 
what  angle  his  craft  may  be  inclined.  The 
lights  visible  on  land  or  water  at  night  from 
an  altitude  of  several  miles  are  at  best  very 
indistinct  and  misleading. 

Since  all  friendly  as  well  as  enemy  air- 
craft fly  with  lights  out,  they  cannot  be  seen, 
even  on  clear  nights,  except  at  close  range. 
The  night  pilot  must  get  his  bearings  at  such 
times  from  the  noise  made  by  the  propellers 
of  approaching  craft.  From  long  experi- 
ence, he  is  able  to  distinguish  the  different 
note  in  the  whir  of  the  propellers  driven  by 
different  engines.  His  life  may  depend  upon 
the  accuracy  of  his  judgment  in  thus  dis- 
tinguishing friend  from  foe. 

The  obvious  danger  in  night  flying  is,  of 
course,  that  the  pilot  may  lose  his  way  and 
be  unable  to  return  to  his  base.  An  elab- 
orate system  of  signals  has  been  worked  out 
to  enable  him  to  recognize  his  friend.  On 
196 


AIR  SCOUTING 

approaching  his  base,  while  sailing  at  a  safe 
altitude,  the  pilot,  by  means  of  a  light,  com- 
municates in  a  secret  code.  He  must  wait 
until  he  receives  a  reply  in  the  same  code 
before  coming  down.  The  enemy  will,  of 
course,  try  to  deceive  him,  and  the  pilot  must 
be  on  his  guard.  Only  when  an  exchange  of 
signals  absolutely  satisfies  him  is  the  pilot 
allowed  to  negotiate  the  difficult  operation 
of  a  night  landing. 


197 


XXXIII 
AERO  PHOTOGRAPHY 

ALTHOUGH  no  men  have  as  yet  been 
singled  out  for  conspicuous  bravery 
among  the  aero  photographers  of  the  Navy, 
their  service  is  at  once  so  perilous  and  so 
picturesque  that  no  list  of  naval  heroes  would 
be  complete  without  them.  The  aero  pho- 
tographer faces  much  the  same  danger  as 
other  flyers,  and  in  addition  must  approach 
close  enough  to  the  enemy  positions  to  focus 
his  camera  upon  them,  and  return  again  and 
again  to  the  point  of  danger  to  make  sure  of 
his  exposures.  A  verbal  report  of  the  work 
of  the  bombing  planes  will  not  suffice:  the 
aero  camera-man  must  bring  back  actual 
photographs,  and  good  ones,  of  the  damage 
inflicted. 

No  other  country  is  so  well  prepared  as 
America  to  supply  expert  camera-men  for 
this  service.     We  are  a  nation  of  photog- 
198 


An  American  Fleet  in  Chinese  Waters 


(Ci  Brown  and  Daw 


The   Deck   from   Aloft 


AERO  PHOTOGRAPHY 

raphers.  It  has  been  estimated  that  there 
is  one  camera  in  use  for  every  four  people, 
counting  the  entire  population.  Children 
begin  by  snapping  pictures  with  small  hand 
cameras,  and  replace  them  with  better  ap- 
paratus as  they  grow  older.  Much  of  this 
knowledge  is  elemental,  but  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  population  learn  to  take  excellent 
pictures.  When  the  demand  for  photog- 
raphers for  the  Navy  was  made,  there  was  a 
wealth  of  good  material  to  choose  from.  It 
was  not  necessary  to  train  men  from  the  be- 
ginning. Thousands  were  found  among 
those  enlisted  who  were  already  skilled 
camera-men. 

In  order  to  carry  on  naval  preparations 
over  the  sea,  hundreds  of  miles  of  photo- 
graphic maps  must  be  prepared.  Every  de- 
tail of  the  enemy's  coast-lines  is  photo- 
graphed. Before  an  air  raid  is  carried  out 
— such  as  that  upon  the  German  submarine 
base  at  Ostend — the  aero  photographers  are 
sent  out  again  and  again.  The  anti-aircraft 
defenses  are  able  to  put  up  a  barrage  fire  to 
a  height  of  more  than  ten  thousand  feet,  or 
two  miles.  To  fly  below  this  level  is  to  face 
20 1 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

great  danger.  The  photographic  planes 
often  venture  much  lower  down,  however, 
to  secure  sharply  focussed  pictures.  And 
they  do  so,  perhaps,  at  intervals  of  a  few 
hours,  in  order  to  photograph  any  changes 
the  enemy  may  make  in  his  defenses. 

So  vital  are  these  aero  photographs  to  the 
naval  authorities  in  planning  a  raid  that  no 
risk  is  considered  too  great  in  securing  them. 
With  these  photographic  maps  of  the  coast- 
lines before  him,  a  naval  officer  may  be  said 
to  look  directly  down  upon  the  enemy.  Lit- 
tle is  left  to  chance.  From  these  pictures 
the  exact  position  of  the  weak  points  in  the 
enemy's  lines  are  ascertained,  and  the  pilots 
of  bombing  machines  may  be  told  just  what 
he  is  to  do. 

Aero  photographers  not  only  precede  the 
raids,  but  they  must  follow  them  as  well,  to 
bring  back  definite  photographic  evidence  of 
the  damage  inflicted.  As  a  matter  of  course, 
the  enemy  knows  that  the  aero  photogra- 
phers are  coming,  and  is  on  the  lookout  for 
them;  but  even  this  danger  must  be  faced, 
so  important  is  the  evidence  collected. 

While  working  under  (or  is  it  over?)  fire, 
202 


AERO  PHOTOGRAPHY 

the  aero  camera-man  must  have  steady 
nerves  and  an  unshaken  hand.  Every  one 
knows  how  delicate  a  matter  it  is  to  judge 
the  distance  and  the  light  in  making  a  good 
picture.  In  photographing  from  the  air  the 
problem  becomes  much  more  complicated. 
The  passage  of  clouds  and  the  effect  of  at- 
mospheric conditions  at  high  altitudes  must 
be  considered.  With  the  enemy  sending  up 
a  deadly  barrage,  or  perhaps  an  enemy  fleet 
attempting  to  drive  him  away,  these  camera- 
men of  the  air  forces  never  falter. 

Everything  is  done  to  simplify  the  work 
and  save  a  few  seconds  of  priceless  time. 
The  cameras  are  sometimes  placed  in  the 
floor  of  the  car,  or  fastened  to  the  outer 
side,  and  arranged  with  ingenious  automatic 
devices  for  making  the  exposures.  The  pic- 
tures may  be  taken  by  pressing  a  button  or 
pulling  a  strap.  Moving  pictures  are  also 
taken  aloft,  and  thousands  of  exposures 
made,  as  the  aeroplane  dodges  the  enemy's 
fire. 

The  remarkable  photographs  that  appear 
in  such  numbers  in  the  papers  and  magazines 
gain  a  new  interest  when  we  consider  how 
203 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

high  a  price  is  paid  to  secure  them.  The 
aero  camera-man  must  exercise  all  his  skill 
and  ingenuity,  knowing  that  any  exposure 
may  be  his  last  and  an  unlucky  shot  may 
send  him  plunging  down.  The  courage 
that  enables  our  men  to  face  such  dangers 
is  so  common  that  the  authorities  have  not 
seen  fit  to  give  it  special  mention. 


204 


XXXIV 
A  SEVEN-HOUR  AIR  BATTLE 

AT  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  aero- 
plane was  little  more  than  a  toy.  Its 
most  enthusiastic  friends  did  not  anticipate 
its  amazing  development.  The  first  encoun- 
ters between  aircraft  were  watched  with 
curiosity,  but  the  military  advantage  of  the 
air  fleets  was  considered  problematical. 
Under  the  most  favorable  conditions  it  was 
found  difficult  to  keep  an  aeroplane  aloft  for 
any  length  of  time ;  they  carried  little  weight, 
and  air  navigation  was  difficult.  When  two 
aeroplanes  met  in  combat,  they  manceuvered 
much  the  same  as  knights  in  a  medieval 
tournament.  Flying  at  comparatively  low 
altitudes,  they  would  pass  each  other,  firing 
a  few  shots  from  guns  of  small  caliber,  and 
then  turn  and  repeat  the  attack. 

Two  American  officers — Lieutenant  J.  A. 
Eaton  and  K.  B.  Keyes — recently  took  part 
in  an  air  battle  that  lasted  for  more  than 
205 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

seven  hours.  The  engagement  took  place 
above  the  sea,  far  out  of  sight  of  land.  In 
case  of  accident  the  airmen  faced  the  danger 
of  drowning.  A  series  of  complicated  ma- 
noeuvers  were  carried  on  aloft,  while  the  bat- 
tle was  fought  by  formidable  air  batteries. 

The  description  of  the  air  battle  written 
by  Lieutenant  Keyes  is  fascinating.  Keyes 
was  gun-layer  in  an  aeroplane,  one  of  a  fleet 
of  five  aircraft  flying  off  the  coast  of  Hol- 
land near  Terschelling,  when  a  fleet  of  Ger- 
man machines  was  sighted. 

"Lieutenant  G was  seated  near  the 

wheel,"  Keyes  writes.  "His  duty  was  to 
kneel,  with  his  eyes  above  the  cowl,  and  di- 
rect the  pilot.  I  was  in  the  front  cockpit, 
with  one  gun  and  four  hundred  rounds  of 
ammunition.  In  the  stern  cockpit  the  en- 
gineer and  wireless  ratings  were  to  handle 
three  guns. 

"We  took  battle  formation,  and  went  for- 
ward to  meet  the  enemy  machines ;  but  when 
almost  within  range  they  turned  and  ran 
away  from  us." 

Later  another  fleet  of  German  planes  was 
sighted  and  again  driven  off.  These  fleets 
206 


A  SEVEN-HOUR  AIR  BATTLE 

were  probably  acting  as  decoys,  for  shortly 
afterward  the  Germans  appeared  in  consid- 
erable force.  Lieutenant  Keyes  describes 
the  main  action  as  follows : 

"Suddenly  we  discovered  that  a  large  num- 
ber of  hostile  planes  were  steering  toward 
us,  not  high  in  the  air,  but  very  close  to  the 
water.  Ten  machines  were  in  this  group, 
but  they  were  joined  in  a  few  minutes  by 
five  more.  The  scouts  were  painted  black 
and  the  two  seaters  green,  and  seemed  very 
hard  to  pick  up. 

"We  swung  into  battle  formation  and 
aimed  for  the  middle  of  the  fleet.  When 
we  were  nearly  within  range,  four  planes  on 
the  port  side  and  five  on  the  starboard  side 
were  close  to  our  level.  Two  planes  passed 
directly  beneath  us,  shooting  upward.  The 
firing  was  incessant  from  the  beginning,  and 
the  air  seemed  blue  with  tracer  smoke.  The 
Germans  used  explosive  bullets." 

The  wounding  of  Lieutenant  G ,  which 

occurred  at  the  height  of  the  battle,  did  not 
shake  the  nerve  of  the  Americans,  who  con- 
tinued to  fight  while  their  comrade  lay  un- 
conscious beside  them. 
207 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

"Once  I  looked  round,"  writes  Lieutenant 

Keyes,  "and  noticed  that  Lieutenant  G 

was  in  a  stooping  position,  with  his  head  and 
one  arm  on  his  seat,  the  other  arm  hanging 
down  as  if  reaching  for  something.  I  had 
seen  him  in  this  posture  earlier  in  the  day, 
and  so  thought  nothing  of  it.  All  this  I 
noticed  in  the  fraction  of  a  second,  for  I  had 
to  continue  firing. 

"A  few  minutes  later  I  turned  around 
once  more,   and   found  with  a  shock  that 

Lieutenant  G was  in  the  same  position. 

It  was  then  that  the  first  inkling  of  the  truth 
dawned  on  me.  By  bending  lower  I  dis- 
covered his  head  was  lying  in  a  pool  of 
blood." 

The  Allied  squadron  put  up  a  good  run- 
ning fight,  despite  their  losses.  The  reports 
of  the  various  pilots  shows  that  the  discipline 
was  excellent  throughout.  The  aeroplanes 
kept  in  battle  formation  and  carried  out  sev- 
eral difficult  air  manceuvers.  Lieutenant 
Keyes'  description  of  the  later  phases  of  the 
battle  makes  stirring  reading: 

"Suddenly  I  found  our  machine  had  been 
208 


A  SEVEN-HOUR  AIR  BATTLE 

cut  off  from  the  formation  and  we  were  sur- 
rounded by  seven  enemy  seaplanes.  We 
fought  for  ten  miles  or  so,  until  we  drove 
seven  Germans  off.  One  of  them  was  driven 
down  out  of  control  and  made  a  very  poor 
landing.  Another  was  badly  hit,  side- 
slipped, and  crashed  in  flames  from  a  height 
of  two  thousand  feet.  All  were  severely 
punished." 

The  engines  of  Lieutenant  Keyes'  machine 
now  began  to  act  badly.  From  the  matter- 
of-fact  description  it  is  difficult  to  realize  that 
the  scene  was  taking  place  high  above  the 
sea. 

"The  engineer  came  forward,"  writes  the 
Lieutenant,  "to  say  that  the  port  engine  pe- 
trol pipe  had  broken.     By  this  time  I  had  laid 

out  Lieutenant  G in  the  wireless  cockpit, 

cleaned  up  the  second  pilot's  seat,  and  taken 
it  myself. 

"We  descended  to  the  water  at  4:45  p.  m., 
ten  miles  northwest  of  Vlieland.     There  I 

loosened  Lieutenant  G 's  clothing,  made 

his  position  easier,  and  felt  for  his  heart, 

which  I  was  sure  was  beating  feebly.     Then 

209 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

we  rose  and  sighted  two  of  our  own  planes. 
We  picked  them  up,  swung  into  formation, 
and  laid  our  course  for  Z. 

"At  7 :  10  we  sighted  land,  and  twenty  min- 
utes after  we  were  resting  in  front  of  the 
slipway.  We  at  once  summoned  medical 
aid,  but  found  that  nothing  could  be  done 

for  Lieutenant  G .     The  shot  had  gone 

through  his  head,  striking  his  mouth  and 
coming  out  behind  one  ear,  tearing  a  two- 
inch  gash.  Our  boat  was  riddled  with  a 
number  of  shots,  and  had  also  a  torn  top  be- 
tween the  front  cockpit  and  the  beginning  of 
the  cowl.  The  duration  of  the  fight  was 
seven  hours  and  ten  minutes." 


2IO 


PART  IV 
IN  HOME  WATERS 


XXXV 
IN  PEACE  TIMES 

PEACE  has  its  heroes  no  less  than  war. 
In  the  daily  routine  life  of  the  fleet 
there  is  no  lack  of  opportunity  for  distin- 
guished service.  The  fleets  comprise  a 
widely  scattered  population  equal  to  that  of  a 
considerable  city.  An  immense  amount  of 
labor  must  be  done  on  an  exacting  schedule. 
This  population,  again,  is  constantly  threat- 
ened by  the  manifold  dangers  of  life  at  sea, 
while  each  of  the  floating  fortresses  carries 
immense  stores  of  explosives.  The  average 
man  who  watches  a  great  fleet  sweep  out  to 
sea  little  realizes  the  sleepless  vigilance  that 
guards  its  safety. 

From  the  hour  a  ship  is  laid  down  in  some 
navy-yard  until,  years  later,  she  is  con- 
demned and  broken  up,  every  hour  of  her  life 
is  fraught  with  danger.  A  man-of-war  laid 
up  for  repairs  at  the  New  York  Navy- Yard 
213 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

would  seem  to  be  safe  from  the  perils  of  the 
sea.  No  submarine  could  penetrate  here 
while  her  gangway  leads  directly  to  solid 
earth.  Yet,  during  the  repairing  of  a  ship 
in  this  dry-dock  recently,  an  ugly  fire  broke 
out  in  the  lower  part  of  the  ship's  hold.  It 
was  a  simple  matter  to  flood  the  burning 
area,  and  the  fire-fighters  of  the  crew  were 
at  their  stations,  when  a  report  came  that  a 
workman  was  missing  somewhere  below. 
Following  the  alarm  there  had  been  ample 
time  for  all  to  reach  the  deck ;  but,  as  it  was 
discovered  later,  a  boy  assisting  the  workmen 
in  the  ship's  tank  had  become  unconscious 
from  the  smoke  and  heat  and  was  left  be- 
hind. 

A  hurried  consultation  was  held  on  deck, 
and  it  was  decided  that  the  boy  must  lie  at  the 
bottom  of  a  shaft  some  thirty  feet  below  the 
main-deck.  It  was  impossible  to  reach  the 
point  by  the  ship's  ladder  or  by  stairways, 
which  were  cut  off  by  the  flames.  A  volun- 
teer was  called  for,  and  a  seaman  was  se- 
lected from  the  several  sailors  who  stepped 
forward.  A  line  was  placed  around  his 
body,  and,  armed  with  a  small  lantern,  he 
214 


IN  PEACE  TIMES 

was  lowered  cautiously  into  the  darkness. 

As  he  descended  the  heat  became  intense 
and  the  smoke  was  suffocating.  A  signal 
would  have  brought  him  to  the  safe  level  of 
the  deck  in  a  few  seconds;  but  the  sailor 
made  the  descent,  and  then,  lantern  in  hand, 
began  to  search  for  the  missing  workman. 
To  the  men  holding  the  rope  on  deck  the  time 
seemed  interminable.  Several  minutes 
passed  without  any  sign  from  below.  The 
men  were  on  the  point  of  pulling  up,  fearing 
their  man  was  unconscious,  when  the  wel- 
come signal  came.  The  increased  weight  on 
the  rope  told  its  own  story.  When  the  sailor 
appeared  above  deck,  he  was  clasping  the 
unconscious  body  of  the  missing  boy.  A  lit- 
tle adventure  of  this  kind  is  considered  all 
in  the  day's  work. 

A  somewhat  similar  accident  occurred 
aboard  the  U.  S.  S.  Buck  at  one  of  the  navy- 
yards.  Two  employees  of  the  navy-yard  had 
entered  the  coffer-dam  of  the  Buck  without 
permission,  and  were  overcome  by  poisonous 
gases  in  the  hold  of  the  vessel.  Every  one 
realized  the  danger  of  entering  the  hold  and 
breathing  the  dangerous  fumes,  but  volun- 
215 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

teers  to  save  the  men  were  not  lacking.  A 
quartermaster,  Felix  Laskowsky,  was  se- 
lected from  among  those  who  volunteered. 
Attaching  a  long  line  about  his  body,  he  de- 
scended into  the  hold  safely,  found  one  of 
the  unconscious  men,  and  was  struggling  up 
the  ladder , with  his  burden  when  he  was  him- 
self overcome.  He  fell  from  the  ladder, 
fracturing  his  skull,  and  died  almost  imme- 
diately. The  young  quartermaster  had  en- 
listed at  Dallas,  Texas,  less  than  a  year 
before. 

The  term  sea-cook  should  no  longer  be  a 
term  of  reproach.  No  special  heroism  is 
called  for  in  the  ship's  galley  under  ordinary 
circumstances.  Every  man  aboard  ship 
nevertheless,  when  the  test  comes,  may  be 
depended  upon.  The  adventure  of  William 
B.  Gray  of  the  Naval  Reserve,  while  serving 
as  ship's  cook,  should  serve  to  remove  that 
ancient  stigma  which  attaches  to  the  sea  cook 
and  his  progeny. 

Gray's  ship  chanced  to  be  stationed  in 

North  Carolina  Sounds  one  January  when 

an  unusually  severe  cold  wave  covered  the 

Sounds  with  thick  ice,  which  remained  un- 

216 


IN  PEACE  TIMES 

broken  for  three  weeks.  The  condition  was 
very  unusual  in  that  locality.  A  lighthouse 
within  sight  of  the  ship,  with  its  inmates  sta- 
tioned at  a  particularly  inaccessible  point, 
was  completely  isolated  and  cut  off  from  sup- 
plies. Word  reached  the  ship  that  the  light- 
house-keeper and  his  family  were  suffering. 

The  ice  covering  the  Sounds  was  much  too 
thick  to  break  a  channel  for  a  boat,  while  too 
thin  in  places  to  allow  a  man  to  cross  in 
safety.  The  Sounds  were,  besides,  swept  by 
strong* and  irregular  currents,  and  should  a 
man  break  through  he  would  probably  be 
swept  under  the  ice.  Gray  conceived  the 
idea  of  attaching  runners  to  a  ship's  boat, 
and  when  this  remarkable  boat-sled  was 
ready  it  was  loaded  with  supplies  for  the 
marooned  lighthouse-keeper.  Gray  made 
the  trip  alone. 

The  heavier  portions  of  the  ice  were 
crossed  by  pushing  the  boat  cautiously  for- 
ward. There  were  many  weak  spots,  and 
Gray  had  to  keep  tight  hold  of  his  boat  to 
guard  against  accident.  Several  times  he 
broke  through  the  ice,  but  saved  himself  by 
holding  to  the  side  of  the  boat  and  climbing 
217 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

aboard.  When  the  ice  proved  too  thin  to 
support  the  sled,  the  boat  was  pushed  labori- 
ously forward.  Standing  at  the  prow,  Gray 
would  break  the  ice  before  him  with  an  oar 
and  then  push  his  boat  into  the  opening.  It 
was  slow  work. 

After  many  hours  Gray  reached  the  light- 
house and  the  supplies  were  transferred. 
Throughout  the  trip  the  cold  was  intense, 
and  after  each  wetting  the  water  froze  sol- 
idly the  cook's  clothes.  Considerable  skill 
was  required  in  handling  the  boat  to  negoti- 
ate these  icy  passages.  Gray  was  new  to  the 
service,  having  enlisted  but  a  few  months  be- 
fore. He  is  a  native  of  Newbern,  North 
Carolina,  and  doubtless  drew  encouragement 
from  the  fact  that  his  act  of  heroism  was  to 
bring  relief  to  people  of  his  own  State. 


218 


XXXVI 
ON  THE  SPUR  OF  THE  MOMENT 

IN  commending  the  bravery  of  Ora  Graves, 
a  seaman  of  the  U.S.S.  Pittsburgh,  the 
Government  showed  that  it  keeps  an  alert 
eye  upon  every  activity  of  its  great  fleets. 
On  this  date,  December  23,  1917,  great 
issues  were  at  stake  in  European  waters, 
and  an  act  of  heroism  at  home  might  easily 
have  passed  unnoticed. 

The  Graves  affair  is  specially  interesting 
because  it  came  unexpectedly  in  the  course  of 
ordinary  daily  drill.  In  a  great  naval  battle, 
or  while  navigating  dangerous  waters,  the 
crew  might  naturally  be  keyed  up  to  the  occa- 
sion and  in  a  mood  for  special  acts  of  hero- 
ism. The  firing  of  a  salute  in  American 
waters  was  as  commonplace  as  the  scrubbing 
of  a  deck.  Discipline  might  be  expected  to 
relax  at  such  times  below  the  fighting  pitch. 
Like  scores  of  other  duties  aboard  ship,  it  is 
219 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

all  in  the  day's  work,  when  the  men  might  be 
caught  off  their  guard. 

The  drill  has  been  made  familiar  by  many 
pictures,  including  moving  pictures.  The 
gun  crew  take  their  stations  on  the  open 
deck,  for  no  return  fire  is  to  be  expected. 
The  cartridge  is  brought  up  by  an  electric 
hoist.  The  men  have  come  to  look  upon 
such  drill  with  the  contempt  of  its  dangers 
bred  of  long  familiarity.  A  mere  three-inch 
shell  seems  as  harmless  to  them  as  a  fire- 
cracker. The  smooth  mechanism  of  the  gun 
is  set  in  motion.  The  gun  is  opened  and  a 
cartridge  slid  swiftly  into  place  and  the 
breech  closed.  Accustomed  to  the  roar  of 
fourteen-inch  guns  the  report  of  the  salute 
charge  scarcely  attracts  the  crew's  attention. 

At  the  firing  of  such  a  salute  charge  from 
a  three-inch  gun,  one  day  aboard  the  U.S.S. 
Pittsburgh,  an  ugly  explosion  occurred. 
Two  men  were  instantly  killed  and  several 
others,  including  Graves,  seriously  injured. 
The  crew  were  taken  entirely  by  surprise. 

The  seaman  Graves  had  been  struck  sense- 
less and  hurled  some  distance  along  the  deck. 
The  alarm  of  the  explosion  spread  instantly, 
220 


ON  THE  SPUR  OF  THE  MOMENT 

and  in  a  moment  men  were  rushing  to  the 
gun  to  lend  assistance.  Graves  lay  for  a 
few  seconds  unconscious  some  feet  from  the 
gun,  and  in  the  excitement  of  the  moment 
was  overlooked. 

He  recovered  consciousness,  pulled  him- 
self to  a  sitting  position,  and  looked  about 
hazily.  His  eyes  rested  on  some  burning 
waste  that  had  been  ignited  by  the  explosion 
and  hurled  some  distance  from  the  gun.  It 
had  fallen  near  a  casement  containing  a  large 
supply  of  explosives.  No  one  else  had  no- 
ticed the  fire  or  realized  the  danger  to  the 
ship.     There  was  not  an  instant  to  spare. 

Weak  as  he  was  from  the  explosion, 
Graves  staggered  to  his  feet.  He  might 
have  called  for  help,  but  he  realized  that  he 
could  reach  the  burning  waste  before  any 
one  else,  and  the  safety  of  the  ship  might  be 
decided  by  a  second's  time.  His  injuries 
pained  him  cruelly,  and  once  he  staggered 
and  nearly  fell ;  but  he  had  reached  the  burn- 
ing waste  before  any  one  else  realized  the 
ship's  danger. 

The  fire  had  already  spread  near  the  pow- 
der when  Graves,  gathering  up  the  cotton  in 
221 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

his  arms,  and  working  with  desperate  haste, 
began  to  throw  it  overboard.  There  were 
several  armloads  of  the  waste,  but  Graves 
stuck  doggedly  at  his  work  until  the  last  of 
it  was  in  the  sea.  Not  until  the  danger  was 
over  did  he  realize  that  he  was  seriously 
burned  about  the  face,  neck  and  hands.  A 
few  seconds'  delay  would  have  brought  the 
flames  to  the  powder  and  the  entire  ship 
would  have  been  wrecked  and  probably  lost. 
The  inspiration  of  the  incident  lies  in  the 
readiness  of  the  seaman  to  think  and  act  the 
moment  he  regained  consciousness.  Few 
people,  on  awaking  even  from  a  normal  sleep, 
instantly  regain  all  their  faculties.  After 
such  a  shock  the  strongest  man  might  be 
expected  to  look  somewhat  hazily  about  him. 
Graves  was  able  to  see  and  act  with  instant 
decision.  The  medal  awarded  to  Graves 
was  the  second  to  be  awarded  since  our 
entrance  into  the  war. 


222 


XXXVII 
THE  FIRE-FIGHTERS 

AMERICAN  seamen  are  found  ex- 
tremely versatile  in  attacking  problems 
that  demand  quick  decision.  Scattered  as 
they  are  throughout  the  country,  a  great  va- 
riety of  demands  are  continually  made  upon 
them,  quite  apart  from  their  duties  with  the 
fleet.  The  constantly  mounting  debt  that 
the  public  owes  the  men  of  the  Navy  for 
such  assistance  is  not  generally  appreciated. 

When  the  business  district  of  Norfolk, 
Virginia,  was  threatened  by  fire,  every  one, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  turned  to  the  sailors 
for  assistance.  The  case  is  typical.  The 
discipline  of  the  Navy  is  one  of  the  most 
highly  prized  assets  of  the  country.  The  ar- 
rival of  sailors  at  the  scene  of  any  catas- 
trophe instantly  inspires  confidence. 

The  fire  at  Norfolk,  it  will  be  remembered, 
223 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

threatened  the  entire  eity.  Every  available 
piece  of  fighting  apparatus  had  been  called, 
but  the  fire  continued  to  spread.  The  fire 
departments  of  near-by  towns  were  called 
upon.  Scores  of  fire-engines  were  hastily 
loaded  on  flat-cars  and  rushed  to  the  city. 

The  arrival  of  a  large  force  of  enlisted 
men  from  the  Norfolk  Navy  Yard  finally 
turned  the  tide  of  battle  and  the  city  was 
saved.  Hurried  to  the  scene,  some  of  the 
men  were  detailed  to  patrol  the  city,  to  han- 
dle the  crowd  and  protect  property,  while 
others  took  a  hand  in  the  fight.  The  men 
gave  an  excellent  account  of  themselves.  At 
such  a  time  the  discipline  and  team  work 
that  is  the  result  of  years  of  training  comes 
out  strongly  in  contrast  with  the  well  mean- 
ing but  undisciplined  efforts  of  a  crowd  of 
volunteers. 

No  time  was  lost  in  discussion.  At  a  com- 
mand, the  men  advanced  double  quick  to 
their  designated  stations.  The  terror  of  the 
advancing  flames  and  the  darkened  streets 
spread  terror  to  the  people.  The  sailors 
were  at  home  amid  such  confusion.  Trained 
to  stand  at  their  guns  under  shell  fire  and 
224 


THE  FIRE-FIGHTERS 

coolly  to  execute  complicated  orders,  they 
remained  as  self-possessed  as  if  on  parade. 

Before  the  arrival  of  the  sailors  there  had 
been  great  difficulty  in  keeping  the  crowds 
within  bounds.  At  several  points  they  had 
"rushed"  the  ropes,  rilling  the  streets  where 
the  firemen  were  at  work.  But  the  sight  of 
these  well  set  up,  disciplined  men  inspired 
confidence.  Thereafter  the  streets  were 
kept  clear.  The  guard  proved  especially 
valuable  in  transmitting  orders  throughout 
the  burning  area,  and  in  organizing  and 
keeping  the  different  fire-fighting  units  in 
touch  with  one  another. 

On  the  fighting  line,  face  to  face  with  the 
fire,  the  sailors  proved  invaluable.  Without 
relief  many  of  them  worked  continuously 
throughout  the  night.  The  weather  was  ex- 
tremely cold,  and  many  of  the  men  were 
repeatedly  drenched  to  the  skin  with  the  icy 
waters;  but  they  continued  at  their  posts, 
refusing  to  be  relieved  as  long  as  the  danger 
continued. 

There  were  many  narrow  escapes,  and 
when  the  men  reported  later  the  officers  were 
gratified  to  find  that  none  were  missing.  At 
225 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

one  point,  in  carrying  a  line  of  hose  to  the 
top  of  a  building  to  gain  a  better  position, 
the  sailors  were  repeatedly  warned  by  the 
local  firemen.  They  held  their  posts,  how- 
ever, until  their  own  officer  ordered  them  to 
retreat.  A  few  minutes  afterward  the  walls 
of  the  building  fell  in. 

An  especially  narrow  escape  was  made  by 
John  Joseph  McLoughlin,  a  chief  boats- 
wain's mate,  and  two  sailors  who  succeeded 
in  carrying  a  line  of  hose  through  the  flames 
to  a  valuable  strategic  point  of  attack.  Like 
the  many  others,  they  continued  to  work 
throughout  the  night,  although  wet  with 
water  that  froze  their  clothing.  Many  of 
the  men  remained  continuously  on  duty  in 
the  cold  for  more  than  two  days. 


226 


I 


XXXVIII 
THOSE  IN  PERIL 

N  the  Navy  the  rescue  of  drowning  men  is 
almost  a  daily  occurrence.  To  fail  in 
courage  when  such  a  call  comes  would  be  a 
disgrace.  A  complete  report  of  such  rescues 
would  become  monotonous  from  its  repeti- 
tion of  feats  that,  taken  separately,  would 
seem  inspiring.  Let  the  familiar  cry,  "Man 
overboard !"  be  heard  at  any  hour  of  the  day 
or  night,  winter  or  summer,  in  calm  or  storm, 
and  there  will  be  no  lack  of  volunteers.  The 
waters  may  be  infested  with  sharks,  or 
strewn  with  dangerous  rocks :  there  is  never 
a  moment's  hesitation.  Once  this  trifling 
service  has  been  performed,  the  sailor  goes 
about  his  work  and  thinks  nothing  of  the 
exercise. 

It  is  only  when  such  a  rescue  takes  some 
novel  form  that  the  public  is  likely  to  hear 
of  it.  Even  amid  the  endless  repetition  of 
227 


THOSE  IN  PERIL 

rescues,  the  case  of  Lieutenant  Richard  L. 
Connoly  stands  out  prominently.  At  the 
time  a  full  northeast  gale  swept  the  Atlantic, 
swinging  his  ship  almost  on  its  beam  ends, 
when  some  object  became  involved  with  the 
steering-gear.  A  quartermaster,  in  trying 
to  clear  the  wheel,  lost  his  balance  on  a  sud- 
den roll  of  the  ship,  and  was  swept  over- 
board. The  sea  was  running  wild,  and,  al- 
though a  good  swimmer,  the  quartermaster 
was  soon  exhausted. 

When  it  was  seen  that  he  could  not  help 
himself,  a  ship's  cook  fastened  a  rope  about 
his  waist  and  jumped  in  the  water  after  him. 
He  reached  the  quartermaster,  and  suc- 
ceeded with  great  difficulty  in  bringing  him 
to  the  side  of  the  ship.  The  sea,  meanwhile, 
had  worn  out  the  cook,  and  both  men  were 
too  weak  to  make  use  of  the  rope  thrown  to 
them.  It  was  then  that  Lieutenant  Connoly 
hit  upon  a  novel  plan  of  reaching  the  men. 
Swinging  himself  far  out  over  the  water,  he 
fastened  his  feet  in  the  ship's  rail,  and,  with 
his  head  down,  fished  (so  to  speak)  for  the 
two  men  in  the  water.  He  could  reach  them 
only  when  the  ship  rolled  far  over.  Several 
228 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

times  the  ship  rolled  toward  them,  but  not 
far  enough.  The  Lieutenant  meanwhile, 
hanging  head  down,  was  raised  violently  up 
and  down.  After  repeated  attempts,  he 
reached  the  men  in  the  water,  who  grasped 
his  outstretched  hands.  With  a  man  cling- 
ing to  each  arm,  he  was  drawn  back  to  the 
level  of  the  deck,  saving  both  men  at  the 
same  time. 

An  ingenious  variation  on  this  method  was 
tried  with  success  by  a  seaman  on  the  U.S.S. 
Naradalogs.  The  ship  was  lying  at  anchor 
in  an  Atlantic  port,  when  a  seaman,  while 
passing  a  line  outside  the  main-rigging,  tum- 
bled overboard.  Like  Lieutenant  Connoly, 
the  seaman  saved  his  man  without  so  much 
as  wetting  his  shirt-sleeves.  Climbing  down 
on  the  ship's  chain  to  within  a  few  feet  of 
the  water,  he  took  a  firm  hold  of  the  chain 
and  swung  himself  down  until  his  legs  were 
on  a  level  with  the  seaman's  shoulders. 

The  seaman  was  weak  from  his  fall  and 
exposure,  but  his  rescuer  twined  his  feet  and 
legs  about  him  and  held  him  above  the  water. 
A  boat  was  hastily  lowered  and  the  seaman 
was  lifted  into  the  boat.  An  interesting  fea- 
229 


THOSE  IN  PERIL 

ture  of  the  rescue  was  the  fact  that  the  agile 
seaman  had  only  been  in  service  since  191 7. 

The  proverbial  readiness  of  the  United 
States  Marines  was  evidenced  in  a  sensa- 
tional life-saving  exploit  in  Guantanamo 
Bay,  Cuba.  A  private  of  marines  was  float- 
ing on  a  log  well  out  in  the  Caribbean  Sea, 
when  he  was  attacked  by  a  shark.  In  de- 
fending himself  he  fell  off  the  log,  and,  to 
add  to  the  danger  of  the  situation,  was  sud- 
denly taken  with  cramps.  He  managed  to 
keep  afloat,  rubbing  his  leg  vigorously  to  re- 
store circulation,  and  splashing  the  water  to 
scare  away  the  shark,  which  might  still  be  in 
his  neighborhood. 

A  squall  meanwhile  came  up  quickly,  as 
they  are  likely  to  do  in  this  region,  and  the 
marine  found  himself  drifting  out  to  sea. 
He  was  observed  from  shore,  and  a  recruit- 
ing party  was  at  once  despatched  to  his  as- 
sistance; but  the  rising  sea  prevented  them 
from  getting  near  him.  Meanwhile  Private 
Leonard  B.  Dean,  of  the  Marine  Corps 
Branch  of  the  National  Naval  Volunteers, 
watched  the  man  drifting  out  to  sea,  and 
made  his  own  plans  to  rescue  him.  It  is  one 
230 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

thing  to  jump  into  the  sea  in  the  excitement 
of  the  moment  and  bring  in  a  man:  it  re- 
quires a  different  kind  of  courage  to  work 
out  such  a  rescue  by  the  laws  of  navigation, 
and  to  carry  it  out  by  three  hours  of  swim- 
ming in  a  high  sea. 

Dean  watched  the  movement  of  the  cur- 
rent and  the  direction  of  the  storm,  and,  lay- 
ing a  course  accordingly,  overtook  the  man 
on  the  log  well  out  to  sea,  but  in  a  favorable 
current.  After  three  hours  of  swimming  he 
brought  his  man  safely  to  shore.  He  did 
not  encounter  the  shark.  After  reaching 
land,  Dean  remarked  quietly:  "I  thought 
the  fellow  would  take  the  course  he  did,  and 
planned  it  beforehand." 

A  high  sea  tests  the  courage  of  the  most 
hardened  salt,  and  when  to  the  storm  is 
added  the  menace  of  sharks  the  combination 
is  terrifying.  Secretary  Daniels  has  given 
special  recognition  to  Wallace  Odell  Prater, 
a  machinist  mate  of  the  second  class,  for 
facing  both  dangers  in  making  a  rescue. 

A  seaman  had  fallen  overboard  and  been 
attacked  by  a  shark,  which  had  bitten  off  his 
leg.  Four  other  sharks  were  in  plain  view, 
231 


THOSE  IN  PERIL 

circling  about  the  injured  man  with  fierce 
darting  movements.  Prater,  although  rec- 
ognizing the  danger,  jumped  into  the  water 
without  the  slightest  hesitation,  swam  to  the 
injured  man,  and,  supporting  him,  turned  to 
the  ship.  The  fins  of  several  sharks  were 
seen  in  the  water  within  a  few  feet  of  the 
two  men,  but  they  returned  in  safety.  Pra- 
ter is  a  Kansas  boy  who  had  served  only  a 
few  months  in  the  Navy  before  making  his 
rescue. 

Every  section  of  the  country  seems  to  have 
contributed  men  to  the  long  list  of  those  re- 
warded for  saving  life.  It  is  inspiring  to 
realize  that  the  Navy  can  draw  upon  so  wide 
an  area  for  the  material  from  which  heroes 
are  made.  A  lad  raised  in  the  northern  part 
of  Alaska  recently  won  official  distinction  for 
such  service.  He  was  serving  in  the  Naval 
Reserve,  second  class  at  sea,  when  a  ship's 
storekeeper  lost  his  footing  and  fell  over- 
board. In  falling  he  struck  the  rail  of  a 
lower  deck,  and  was  senseless  when  he 
reached  the  water.  The  body  instantly  dis- 
appeared between  the  boat  and  the  dock. 
The  position  was  extremely  awkward,  for 
232 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

the  body  was  quickly  drawn  beneath  the 
dock. 

The  Alaskan,  without  any  suggestion 
from  his  officers,  instantly  jumped  in  at  the 
point  where  the  body  had  disappeared.  The 
body  of  an  unconscious  man  is  very  difficult 
to  handle  even  in  open  water,  and  in  this 
cramped  position  great  physical  strength  as 
well  as  skill  was  required.  The  storekeeper 
was  brought  safely  aboard.  The  ship's  of- 
ficers watched  the  rescue  from  the  deck  al- 
most directly  above.  Upon  their  enthusias- 
tic report  of  the  Alaskan's  daring,  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy  ordered  official  recogni- 
tion of  the  act. 

The  presence  of  a  naval  vessel  of  any  kind 
is  an  assurance  that  the  waters  of  the  neigh- 
borhood will  be  efficiently  patrolled  against 
accident.  Another  remarkable  rescue  was 
made  from  a  patrol  boat  in  Long  Island 
Sound.  A  young  New  York  lad,  who  had 
entered  the  service  only  a  few  weeks  before, 
was  standing  on  deck  when  he  saw  a  boat 
carrying  a  pleasure  party  swept  against  a 
wharf  and  its  party  thrown  into  the  water. 

Although  the  tide  was  unusually  strong, 
233 


THOSE  IN  PERIL 

the  sailor  was  after  them  in  a  moment. 
Swimming  to  the  upturned  boat,  he  reached 
a  man,  and,  keeping  him  afloat,  swam  about 
until  he  found  one  of  the  women  of  the 
party.  He  succeeded  in  keeping  both  afloat 
until  assistance  arrived.  This  lad  had  had 
no  experience  of  the  water  before  enlisting. 

A  medal  has  been  awarded  by  Secretary 
Daniels  for  the  conspicuous  bravery  of  a 
seaman  in  saving  the  life  of  a  man  who,  in 
turn,  was  saving  a  third  seaman.  A  launch 
carrying  two  men  belonging  to  the  Aeronau- 
tical Station  at  Pensacola  was  cruising  well 
out  to  sea  when  its  gasolene  tank  suddenly 
caught  fire.  The  fire  spread  so  quickly  that 
the  boat  was  soon  a  mass  of  flames,  and  the 
men,  after  fighting  it  until  they  were  both 
badly  burned,  were  forced  to  jump  over- 
board. One  of  the  men,  an  apprentice 
named  Gash,  was  unable  to  support  himself 
in  the  water,  and  his  companion,  a  seaman 
named  George  Buckley,  immediately  went  to 
his  assistance. 

Both  men  were  afloat  when  a  Commo- 
dore's barge  arrived  on  the  scene.  A  life- 
preserver  was  thrown  to  them,  but  unfortu- 
234 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

nately  it  struck  Buckley  in  the  face,  causing 
him  to  lose  his  hold  on  Gash,  who  disap- 
peared. The  coxswain  of  the  launch,  John 
R.  Hay,  instantly  went  in,  and  brought 
Buckley  to  the  boat's  side  in  safety,  then 
turned  to  find  Gash.  He  was  nowhere  to  be 
seen.  Hay  swam  about  until  he  had  made 
sure  of  this,  and  then  repeatedly  dived  to  the 
bottom  of  the  bay,  finally  succeeding  in  bring- 
ing the  body  of  Gash  to  the  surface. 

Through  the  efforts  of  several  fearless 
American  seamen,  the  entire  ship's  company 
of  the  Paddleford  was  saved,  when  all  hope 
of  rescue  seemed  at  an  end.  The  Paddle- 
ford had  gone  ashore  in  a  heavy  surf  at  an 
unnamed  point.  It  was  thought  that  no 
boat  could  live  in  the  sea  thus  running.  The 
distress  signals  were  answered  by  an  Ameri- 
can gunboat,  whose  crew  readily  volunteered 
to  make  the  attempt.  Lieutenant  D.  E. 
Barbey  and  Chief  Boatswain  Mates  Strick- 
land and  Williams  finally  succeeded  in  carry- 
ing a  line  through  the  breakers  to  the  Paddle- 
ford. A  heavy  line  was  pulled  aboard, 
which  made  it  possible  to  take  off  two-thirds 
of  the  Paddleford 's  crew  in  safety.  Later 
235 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

Ensign  Ethridge  and  seven  men  from  the 
gunboat  succeeded  in  taking  a  boat  through 
the  breakers  and  by  skilful  seamanship  com- 
ing alongside  the  wreck.  In  several  trips 
every  one  remaining  aboard  the  Paddleford 
was  brought  safely  ashore. 


236 


XXXIX 

THE  WRECK  OF  THE  "SAN  DIEGO" 

NAVAL  discipline  is  maintained  on  the 
theory  that  the  most  desperate  situa- 
tion may  develop  without  warning  at  any 
moment.  There  may  be  but  one  chance  in 
millions  that  a  bolt  will  descend  from  a  per- 
fectly clear  sky,  but  the  men  are  never 
caught  off  their  guard.  An  excellent  illus- 
tration of  this  rule  is  afforded  in  the  attack 
on  the  United  States  cruiser  San  Diego,  sunk 
off  Fire  Island,  July  18,  1918.  No  German 
craft  were  supposed  to  be  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic,  and  the  position  of  the  cruiser,  al- 
most at  the  entrance  to  New  York  harbor, 
with  its  manifold  defenses,  seeemed  reason- 
ably safe  from  attack. 

Despite  the  suddenness  of  the  attack,  the 
entire  crew,  men  of  every  rank,  faced  the 
danger  with  perfect  self-possession.     Cap- 
tain H.  H.  Christy,  of  the  San  Diego,  not 
237 


THE  WRECK  OF  THE  "SAN  DIEGO" 

knowing  how  imminent  was  the  danger  of 
sinking,  descended  from  deck  to  deck  to  the 
most  inaccessible  part  of  the  hold.  As  the 
water  poured  into  the  lower  part  of  the  ship, 
the  officers  and  men  of  the  engine-rooms 
stood  quietly  at  their  posts.  When  the 
water  had  risen  so  high  that  the  gun  crew 
stood  submerged  to  their  waists,  the  men 
stubbornly  stood  to  their  guns  in  the  hope 
of  getting  a  shot  at  the  enemy. 

Later,  when  the  vessel  sank,  turning  over 
as  she  went  under,  the  crew  showed  no  un- 
due haste  in  making  their  last  leap  into  the 
water,  while  many  clung  to  the  ship,  hoping 
against  hope  that  she  might  right  herself. 
Rear-Admiral  Palmer,  in  his  official  report, 
makes  the  scene  very  real. 

"The  explosion  took  place,"  he  writes, 
"on  the  port  side  just  aft  of  the  forward 
port  engine-room  bulkhead.  The  feed-tank 
and  circulating  pump  were  blown  in  and  the 
port  engine  was  wrecked.  Full  speed  ahead 
was  rung,  and  the  starboard  engine  operated 
until  it  was  stopped  by  water  rising  in 
the  engine-room.  Machinist's  Mate  Haw- 
thorne, who  was  at  the  throttle  in  the  port 
238 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

engine-room,  was  blown  four  feet  under  the 
engine-room  deck.  He  got  up,  closed  the 
throttle  on  the  engine,  which  had  already 
stopped,  and  then  escaped  up  the  engine- 
room  ladder. 

"Lieutenant  Miller,  on  watch  in  the  star- 
board engine-room,  closed  the  water-tight 
door  to  the  engine-room,  and  gave  the  neces- 
sary instructions  to  the  fire-room  to  protect 
the  boilers. 

"The  ship  listed  to  port  heavily,  so  that 
water  entered  the  gun  ports  on  the  gun-deck. 
The  vessel  listed  eight  degrees  quickly;  then 
hung  for  seven  minutes;  then  gradually 
listed,  the  speed  increasing  until  thirty-five 
degrees  was  reached.  At  this  time  the  port 
quarter-deck  was  under  three  feet  of  water. 
The  ship  then  rapidly  turned  turtle  and  sank. 
Captain  Christy  went  from  the  bridge  down 
two  ladders  to  the  boat-deck,  slid  down  a  line 
to  the  armor-belt,  then  dropped  down  four 
feet  to  the  bilge  keel,  and  thence  to  the  dock- 
ing keel,  which  at  that  time  was  eight  feet 
above  water.  From  there  he  jumped  into 
the  water.  The  ship  was  about  five  minutes 
239 


THE  WRECK  OF  THE  "SAN  DIEGO" 

in  turning  over  after  she  reached  thirty-five 
degrees  heel." 

The  first  intimation  of  the  attack  was 
a  dull  explosion.  The  impact  completely 
wrecked  the  wireless  apparatus,  so  that  it 
was  impossible  to  send  out  a  call  for  help. 
Although  taken  completely  by  surprise,  the 
necessary  orders  were  given  and  executed 
without  the  least  panic.  The  Admiral's  of- 
ficial report  continues: 

"Captain  Christy  immediately  sounded 
submarine  defense  quarters  and  the  general 
alarm.  Everything  went  quietly  and  ac- 
cording to  drill  schedule.  The  Captain  rang 
full  speed  ahead,  and  sent  an  officer  to  in- 
vestigate the  damage.  At  the  time  he 
thought  the  ship  would  not  sink.  Two  mo- 
tor-sailers were  ordered  rigged  out,  but  not 
to  be  lowered  until  further  orders. 

"At  the  submarine  defense  call  the  men 
went  quietly  to  their  stations  and  manned 
the  guns.  They  stood  by  the  port  guns  un- 
til they  were  awash,  and  by  the  starboard 
guns  until  the  list  of  the  ship  pointed  them 

up  into  the  air. 

240 


▲ 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

"When  it  seemed  obvious  that  the  vessel 
would  capsize,  the  order  was  given  to  aban- 
don ship,  except  the  port-side  gun  crew, 
which  were  to  remain  at  their  stations  as 
long  as  the  guns  would  bear.  Boats  were 
ordered  lowered,  and  two  sailboats,  one 
dinghy,  one  wherry,  and  two  punts  were 
launched.  The  life-rafts  were  launched, 
and  the  lumber  piled  on  deck  was  loosed  and 
set  adrift.  Fifty  mess-tables  and  a  hundred 
kapok  mattresses  were  thrown  overboard. 
Abandon  ship  was  complete  before  the  vessel 
began  to  capsize. 

"Perfect  order  was  preserved,  the  men 
cheering.  When  on  the  rafts  they  sang 
'The  Star  Spangled  Banner'  and  'My  Coun- 
try, 'T  is  of  Thee,"  cheered  for  the  Captain, 
the  executive  officers,  and  the  ship,  and 
cheered  when  the  United  States  ensign  was 
hoisted  on  the  sailboat." 


243 


XL 

THE  WIRELESS  GUARD 

T  N  modern  warfare,  an  enemy  finds  many 
opportunities  to  conceal  his  operations. 
The  possibilites  of  clandestine  wireless 
communication,  for  instance,  are  amazing. 
Only  the  constant  vigilance  of  Government 
experts,  and  their  ingenuity  in  outwitting 
the  enemy,  serves  to  keep  the  situation  in 
hand. 

In  a  war  the  frontiers  must,  of  course, 
be  carefully  guarded,  and  an  elaborate  watch 
maintained  over  spies  within.  Wireless 
electricity  has  greatly  complicated  the 
situation.  From  some  hidden  base,  per- 
haps hundreds  of  miles  inside  the  borders, 
instant  communication  is  possible  with  sta- 
tions in  other  countries  or  even  overseas. 
Until  the  invention  of  such  communication 
the  United  States  enjoyed  the  advantages  of 
an  isolated  position. 

244 


THE  WIRELESS  GUARD 

Long  before  America  entered  the  war  the 
regulation  of  wireless  messages  had  become 
a  serious  problem.  To  maintain  its  neutral- 
ity, the  Government  was  obliged  to  set  a 
vigilant  watch  upon  all  wireless  stations, 
whether  upon  the  land  or  afloat.  Many 
problems  new  to  international  law  were  en- 
countered. It  was  permitted,  for  instance, 
to  send  messages  even  in  cipher  over  an  un- 
dersea cable,  while  a  rigid  censor  forbade 
the  same  practice  by  the  long-distance  over- 
sea wireless  stations.  The  wireless  message 
could,  of  course,  be  picked  up  and  read  by 
ships  for  thousands  of  miles  in  all  directions. 
A  sea  raider — and  there  were  several  such 
at  large — could  thus  receive  orders  from  its 
base  concerning  the  position  of  enemy  ships. 
With  every  desire  to  be  neutral,  America 
thus  became  the  base  from  which  war  op- 
erations were  directed. 

Thus  an  interesting  problem  arose  as  to 
whether  the  intangible  wireless  waves  were 
not  contraband  of  war,  and  therefore  to  be 
controlled  by  the  laws  governing  such  prop- 
erty. Early  in  the  war,  therefore,  Govern- 
ment experts  were  placed  in  the  high- 
245 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

powered  long-distance  wireless  stations  on 
the  Atlantic  seaboard,  and  these  experts 
rigidly  censored  every  message  thrown  out 
across  the  seas.  It  will  be  recalled  that  the 
cables  running  directly  to  Germany  were  cut 
early  in  the  war,  thus  isolating  Germany 
from  America,  except  for  the  wireless  links. 

The  utmost  ingenuity  of  Government  ex- 
perts must  be  kept  constantly  on  the  alert  to 
foil  the  efforts  of  the  German  wireless  men. 
At  scores  of  wireless  stations  throughout  the 
country  experts  "listened  in,"  day  and  night, 
to  detect  these  clandestine  messages.  It 
was  possible  to  transmit  to  ships  at  sea  from 
any  point  on  the  coast,  or  from  miles  inland, 
messages  that  might  have  disastrous  re- 
sults. When  a  suspicious  message  was 
picked  up,  it  was  located  as  accurately  as  pos- 
sible, and  agents  were  at  once  sent  out  to 
scour  the  country  to  find  the  station  from 
which  it  was  sent. 

It  soon  became  necessary  to  regulate  the 
thousands  of  amateur  wireless  stations  scat- 
tered broadcast  throughout  the  country.  No 
other  country  is  so  well  equipped  as  America 
with  such  stations.  There  are  more  than  a 
246 


THE  WIRELESS  GUARD 

hundred  thousand  amateurs  in  the  United 
States  operating  wireless  stations  of  some 
sort.  The  greater  part  of  these  are,  of 
course,  merely  receiving  sets  that  do  no 
harm;  but  there  are  many  thousands  capa- 
ble of  sending  messages  for  considerable 
distances.  It  became  necessary,  therefore, 
either  to  close  the  amateur  sending  stations 
or  to  forbid  their  operation  except  under 
rigid  Government  censorship. 

The  most  arduous  work  of  the  wireless 
censors,  however,  is  found  in  watching  the 
floating  wireless  stations.  Every  ship  in- 
side an  invisible  boundary  line  three  miles 
off  shore  comes  under  Government  jurisdic- 
tion. When  a  vessel  equipped  with  wireless 
comes  into  an  American  port,  therefore,  it 
comes  under  Government  control.  If  there 
be  any  suspicion  of  its  being  used  for  pur- 
poses of  the  enemy,  the  apparatus  is  disman- 
tled. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  cases  of  such 
censorship  was  aboard  the  captured  German 
steamer  Appam.  Like  other  ships  under 
suspicion,  the  Appam  was  carefully  exam- 
ined. Tier  regular  wireless  apparatus  was 
247 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

removed;  but  the  investigation  did  not  stop 
there.  It  was  suspeeted  that  the  steamer, 
while  interned  at  Norfolk,  Virginia,  was 
elandestinely  in  communication  with  the 
German  Government.  For  some  time  the 
most  careful  watch  failed  to  fix  the  suspi- 
cion. 

The  problem  was  finally  solved  through 
the  ingenuity  of  J.  A.  McCarron,  an  electri- 
cal engineer  of  the  first  class,  serving  aboard 
the  United  States  Coast  Guard  cutter  Yama- 
craiv.  The  evidence  was  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  authorities  on  March  13,  191 7.  The 
Captain  of  the  Appam  had  been  for  a  long 
time  regularly  transmitting  messages  to  the 
commanders  of  active  raiders,  and  possibly 
submarines,  transmitting  orders  from  the 
German  Government.  These  messages  also 
contained  information,  often  detailed,  of  the 
affairs  of  the  United  States  Government, 
which  could  thus  be  relayed  to  Germany. 

McCarron  discovered  aboard  the  Appam 
a  complete  secret  wireless  apparatus,  con- 
structed and  installed  with  great  ingenuity. 
The  aerial  was  strung  aloft  in  such  a  way  as 
to  be  invisible  to  the  closest  scrutiny  from 
248 


THE  WIRELESS  GUARD 

the  deck  of  any  near-by  ship.  As  an  addi- 
tional precaution,  however,  the  aerial  was 
lowered  by  the  Germans  before  daybreak 
every  morning,  and  put  in  place  after  dark 
in  the  evening.  All  the  wireless  transmis- 
sion was  carried  on  between  the  hours  of  7 
p.  m.  and  7  a.  m.  The  apparatus  was  pow- 
erful, making  it  possible  either  to  receive  or 
transmit  messages  for  great  distances.  The 
German  commander,  Captain  Berg,  thus 
continued  to  send  and  receive  messages  of 
vital  importance  under  the  very  guns  of  the 
American  fleet. 

By  connecting  the  aerial  with  his  state- 
room, the  German  captain  could  "listen  in" 
at  any  hour  of  the  night  without  the  incon- 
venience of  rising  from  his  bed.  From  the 
privacy  of  his  state-room  he  could,  so  to 
speak,  ring  up  Berlin,  although  surrounded 
by  American  warships.  The  work  of  the 
naval  engineers  who  have  foiled  German  in- 
genuity should  be  mentioned  among  the  no- 
table achievements  in  the  great  struggle. 

The  appearance  of  German  U-boats  in 
American  waters  has  brought  a  new  problem 
to  the  wireless  men.     The  wireless  operators 
249 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

on  American  ships  on  this  side  of  the  Atlan- 
tic often  pick  up  mysterious  messages,  evi- 
dently in  German  code.  It  seemed  impossi- 
ble that  they  should  be  sent  out  from  Amer- 
ica, and  no  German  boat  now  sails  the  seas 
capable  of  such  long-distance  transmission. 
The  messages,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  are  known 
to  be  sent  out  from  Nauen,  a  small  German 
town  near  Spandau,  where  the  most  power- 
ful of  the  German  wireless  stations  is  situ- 
ated. 

The  Nauen  station  is  a  very  elaborate  one. 
The  antenna  is  suspended  from  nine  great 
towers  rising  to  a  height  of  850  feet.  It  is 
reported  from  German  sources  that  last  year 
the  German  Government  used  the  Nauen  sta- 
tion very  extensively,  sending  out  some  five 
million  words.  So  great  is  the  power  of  this 
sending  apparatus  that  its  invisible  waves 
can  be  read  for  six  thousand  miles.  The  en- 
tire Atlantic  coast  of  the  United  States  is, 
therefore,  well  within  range  of  this  station. 

Although  these  German  messages  are  sent 

out  very  frequently,  no  word  of  reply  is  ever 

heard.     The    explanation    is    very    simple. 

The  Nauen  station  is  sending  messages  to  its 

250 


THE  WIRELESS  GUARD 

great  fleet  of  submarines  in  every  sea,  but 
the  undersea  craft  do  not  reply.  A  subma- 
rine may  be  six  thousand  miles  from  Nauen, 
but  it  remains  in  constant  communication 
with  this  base.  The  German  headquarters, 
therefore,  keeps  an  unbroken  communication 
with  the  submarine  fleet. 

Most  of  the  submarines  of  other  countries 
are  equipped  with  wireless  apparatus  capa- 
ble of  operating"  only  throughout  a  radius  of 
a  few  hundred  miles.  The  antenna  is  raised 
on  masts,  a  few  feet  above  the  deck,  that  are 
folded  up  and  taken  in  when  the  craft  sub- 
merges. The  Germans  employ  a  highly  in- 
genious device,  however,  for  receiving  long- 
distance messages.  Two  balloons  are  in- 
flated and  sent  aloft  to  an  altitude  of  about 
two  thousand  feet.  From  these  is  suspended 
the  antenna,  which  at  this  height  picks  up  the 
long-distance  waves  without  trouble.  When 
the  message  has  been  received,  the  balloons 
are  drawn  down,  emptied  of  their  gas,  and 
housed  for  the  next  day's  use. 

By  "listening  in'  day  and  night,  it  has 
been  found  that  these  long-distance  messages 
are  sent  out  at  regular  intervals.  The  com- 
253 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

mander  of  a  submarine,  of  course,  knows 
when  to  expect  orders  from  its  base  in  Ger- 
many, and  is  found  ready  waiting  with  his 
aerials  aloft  to  receive  the  message.  Much 
of  the  effectiveness  of  the  U-boats  has  been 
foiled  by  the  alertness  and  ingenuity  of  the 
naval  wireless  men. 

A  careful  search  has  been  made  by  the  au- 
thorities for  enemy  wireless  stations  along 
the  New  Jersey  coast  and  throughout  a  zone 
many  miles  inland.  It  was  thought  that  the 
success  of  the  German  submarine  in  sinking 
the  Carolina  and  other  ships  off  this  coast 
was  probably  due  to  assistance  of  this  kind. 
As  a  result  of  this  search,  a  wireless  sta- 
tion was  discovered  on  a  farm  near  English- 
town,  some  twenty  miles  inland.  A  tall  flag- 
pole was  employed  to  raise  an  "umbrella 
aerial"  to  a  considerable  height,  from  which 
wires  had  been  run  to  a  sending  apparatus. 
The  wireless  outfit  was  capable  of  sending 
messages  for  several  hundred  miles  off  shore. 
The  farm  was  surrounded  by  a  pine  forest, 
which  served  to  conceal  the  antenna. 

The  same  system  has  been  carried  out  in 
detail  in  European  waters.  A  chart  has 
254 


THE  WIRELESS  GUARD 

been  discovered  aboard  a  captured  German 
submarine  which  reveals  exactly  how  work 
was  carried  on.  The  waters  about  the  Brit- 
ish Isles  have  been  divided  by  the  Germans 
into  a  series  of  squares,  each  of  which  is 
known  by  a  number.  The  German  system 
makes  it  possible  to  gain  valuable  informa- 
tion as  to  the  name  of  boats  sailing  from 
Channel  ports,  their  destination,  and  details 
of  their  cargoes.  This  information  is  sent 
out  from  the  German  wireless  stations 
broadcast  over  the  seas.  The  messages  are, 
of  course,  in  cipher;  but  every  submarine 
commander  has  the  key,  and  is  thus  informed 
of  the  position  of  Allied  vessels  with  amaz- 
ing definiteness.  The  entire  submarine  fleet 
can  thus  receive  daily,  or  if  necessary  hourly, 
bulletins. 


255 


XLI 
MODERN  WEAPONS 

THE  failure  of  the  German  submarines  to 
work  any  material  damage  in  American 
waters  has  become  so  obvious  that  an  official 
explanation,  or  rather  several  of  them,  have 
been  issued  by  the  Kaiser's  government. 
Germany  has  been  very  keenly  disappointed 
over  the  failure  of  the  submarine  to  stop 
American  troop-ships.  The  confession  of 
failure  given  out  by  the  Chief  of  the  German 
Admiralty  Staff,  Admiral  von  Holtzendorff, 
makes  very  interesting  reading.  He  says,  in 
part: 

The  Americans  have  at  their  disposal  for  de- 
barkation the  coastal  region  from  the  northern 
point  of  Scotland  to  the  French  Mediterranean 
ports,  with  dozens  of  debarkation  places.  Must  we 
put  our  boats  to  lurk  off  these  harbors  on  the  chance 
of  getting  shot  at  by  the  strongly  guarded  convoys 
of  fast  American  transports?  The  convoys  do  not  ( 
come  with  the  regularity  and  frequency  of  railway 
trains  at  a  big  railway  station,  but  irregularly,  with 
256 


MODERN  WEAPONS 

long  interruptions,  and  often  by  night  and  in  fog. 
When  one  remembers  all  that,  one  realizes  what 
little  prospect  of  success  it  offers  to  set  the  U-boats 
especially  at  American  transports. 

But  the  Admiral's  explanation  fails  to  ex- 
plain the  immunity  of  the  American  troop- 
ships. Their  safety  is  maintained  by  out- 
witting the  Germans  at  every  turn.  The  in- 
genuity of  our  most  experienced  naval  of- 
ficers, the  excellent  seamanship  of  the  entire 
personnel  engaged,  and  a  spirit  of  absolute 
fearlessness  has  made  this  possible.  The 
defense  of  the  home  waters  and  the  long  sea 
lanes  is  a  far  more  complicated  matter  than 
the  German  Admiral's  explanation  would  in- 
dicate. The  success  of  the  American  Navy 
in  safely  transporting  a  great  army  overseas 
will  doubtless  rank  in  history  as  one  of  the 
great  victories  of  the  war. 

A  fleet  under  convoy  is  a  much  more  com- 
plicated formation  than  the  landsman  imag- 
ines. It  is  said  to  have  been  brought  to  its 
highest  efficiency  in  the  American  Navy. 
The  fleet  of  perhaps  thirty  or  more  ships  sail 
in  a  V-shaped  formation,  regularly  spaced, 
and  held  under  the  most  rigid  rules  to  avoid 
257 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

collision.  The  group  is  protected  by  destroy- 
ers, which  maintain  a  constant  guard  on  all 
sides  by  sailing  in  a  series  of  zigzags.  Sev- 
eral hydroplanes  may  be  carried  to  maintain 
an  air  patrol  throughout  a  wide  radius. 

Such  a  fleet  carries  a  variety  of  weapons, 
and  men  with  courage  and  skill  to  use  them. 
It  is  not  generally  realized,  for  instance,  that 
a  depth  bomb  carries  the  same  elements  of 
destruction  as  a  modern  torpedo,  and  is  far 
more  dangerous  to  handle.  One  of  these 
bombs  contains  from  250  to  300  pounds  of 
T.N.T.,  and  four  cubic  feet  of  this  explosive 
produces  40,000  cubic  feet  of  gas.  Now, 
this  gas,  when  released,  naturally  follows  the 
line  of  least  resistance,  and  will  blow  in  the 
side  of  the  ship  nearest  it  impartially, 
whether  it  be  friend  or  foe.  The  charge 
must  be  dropped  by  a  fearless  and  skillful 
hand.  It  is  especially  effective  when  con- 
trived to  explode  at  a  considerable  depth. 
The  sailor  must  risk  his  life  on  the  accuracy 
of  abstruse  calculations. 

Only  by  long  training,  again,  do  our  men 
become  expert  in  managing  the  smoke- 
screens that  have  been  brought  to  such  per- 
258 


MODERN  WEAPONS 

fection  in  the  present  war.  When  a  ship  is 
concealed  behind  a  well  placed  smoke-screen, 
its  chance  of  being  hit  is  reduced  about  sev- 
enty-five per  cent.  There  are  two  kinds  of 
smoke-screens — the  fixed  and  the  movable 
curtains.  The  modern  sea-fighter  must  be 
an  expert  chemist  to  handle  these  dangerous 
elements.  The  apparatus  used  for  produc- 
ing the  smoke  curtains  consists  of  a  metal 
container  and  two  cylinders,  each  holding  a 
different  gas.  By  opening  the  valves  the  gas 
is  allowed  to  escape  under  pressure,  and  by 
mixing  the  two  chemicals  the  curtain  is 
quickly  developed.  The  gas  is  allowed  to  es- 
cape for  twenty  minutes,  as  a  rule,  and  is 
controlled  at  any  time  by  closing  the  valve. 

The  movable  gas  bombs  are  dropped  at  in- 
tervals to  spread  a  fog-like  curtain  over  the 
water,  and  allow  a  ship  to  escape  the  enemy, 
or  at  least  dodge  its  fire.  These  bombs  go 
off  in  from  six  to  eleven  seconds,  and  in  so 
short  a  period  of  time  develop  a  dense  smoke- 
screen. The  screen  may  consist  of  a  yellow, 
white,  or  black  cloud,  as  the  occasion  de- 
mands, which  completely  engulfs  the  ship. 
The  smoke  tends  to  fall,  and  the  officer  who 
259 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

directs  it  must  calculate  the  force  of  the  wind 
to  a  nicety,  in  order  to  get  the  greatest  pos- 
sible protection. 

Entirely  new  to  this  war  is  the  art  of  cam- 
ouflage. The  first  idea,  in  this  deceptive  dec- 
oration, is  to  render  the  ship  as  much  as  pos- 
sible a  part  of  its  background  of  sea  and  sky. 
The  ship  should  appear  as  shapeless  as  possi- 
ble, the  familiar  form  of  the  vessel  being 
scientifically  destroyed.  Large  masses  of 
color  are  employed  to  give  an  effect  of  shad- 
ows at  a  distance,  which  do  not,  of  course, 
exist.  A  false  bow  and  stern  are  simulated, 
which  makes  it  difficult  to  tell  which  way  the 
ship  is  headed.  A  great  vessel  may  be 
broken  in  two  by  ingenious  camouflage,  or 
made  to  appear  a  hopeless  derelict.  One  of 
the  most  successful  decorative  schemes  is  to 
give  a  ship  the  appearance  of  having  been 
wrecked  by  shell  fire,  so  that  the  enemy  de- 
cides it  is  not  worth  its  while  to  pursue  so 
disreputable  a  wreck.  It  is  not  important 
that  the  vessel  should  appear  to  have  a  low 
visibility.  The  proof  of  the  success  of  the 
art  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  insurance 
260 


MODERN  WEAPONS 

companions  accept  lower  rates  if  a  ship  be 
disfigured  in  this  way. 

The  vessels,  again,  are  equipped  with  deli- 
cate microphones  that  detect  the  presence  of 
a  submarine  at  surprising  distances.  The 
sound  made  by  the  propellers  of  a  U-boat  is, 
of  course,  quickly  muffled  by  the  water;  but 
the  delicate  microphone  picks  up  the  slight- 
est disturbance,  magnifies  it,  and  brings  it  to 
the  ears  of  the  lookout.  There  are  many 
more  highly  ingenious  devices  aboard  the 
American  boats  whose  secrets  are  carefully 
guarded.  The  most  fearless  crew  would  be 
powerless  against  the  enemy  without  elab- 
orate training  and  preparation. 

American  gunners  have  long  enjoyed  a 
reputation  for  accuracy.  The  new  subma- 
rine warfare  has  raised  difficulties  unknown 
to  the  gunners  of  the  past.  The  periscope 
of  a  U-boat  is  very  elusive ;  it  rises  and  dis- 
appears so  quickly  that  the  most  expert 
marksman  often  finds  himself  completely 
baffled.  An  entirely  new  system  of  training 
must  be  devised  to  meet  the  new  problem. 
Despite  the  difficulties  of  the  new  game, 
261 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

American  gunners  have  made  a  reputation 
for  accuracy  in  hitting  the  new  target. 

The  success  of  our  gunners  is  the  result  of 
careful  preparation.  The  difficulties  of  the 
new  game  are,  of  course,  obvious.  The  gun- 
ner sees  his  target  only  for  a  moment  across 
an  expanse  of  shifting  seas.  No  ordinary 
gun  practice  would  train  a  man  to  bag  such 
prey.  To  meet  the  problem,  an  extremely 
ingenious  range,  as  it  may  be  called,  has  been 
devised.  A  long  table  is  painted  to  resemble 
the  sea,  while  a  submarine  or  the  periscope 
of  a  submarine  is  carefully  prepared  to  scale. 

The  gunner  sights  his  target  by  looking 
through  a  slit  in  a  card  at  one  end  of  the 
board.  He  is  allowed  only  a  fleeting  glimpse 
as  a  sheet  of  tin  is  slipped  back  and  forth  be- 
fore his  eyes,  much  as  the  shutter  of  a  lense 
is  used  to  take  a  photograph.  In  the  frac- 
tion of  a  second  he  is  allowed  to  look  at  the 
target,  the  gunner  must  make  his  calculation 
and  instantly  call  out  the  aim  he  would  give 
his  gun. 

The  spot  at  which  he  has  theoretically 
aimed  his  gun  is  marked  on  the  board  by 
placing  over  it  a  tuft  of  cotton  to  represent 
262 


MODERN  WEAPONS 

the  spout  of  water  made  by  a  falling  shot. 
At  the  next  glimpse  the  gunner  sees  the  cot- 
ton marking  his  last  effort  with  the  dummy 
submarine,  and  corrects  his  aim.  The  toy 
U-boat  makes  a  very  elusive  target  when 
seen  for  only  a  flash,  but  it  is  by  such  train- 
ing that  the  gun  crews  of  the  American  Navy 
are  prepared  for  their  difficult  work  at  sea. 

A  hundred  new  problems  must  be  faced  in 
driving  the  submarines  from  the  seas.  Each 
must  be  carefully  analyzed  and  a  new  method 
devised  for  meeting  it.  Working  with  ex- 
cellent material,  the  Navy  has  thus  been  able 
to  turn  out  in  record  time  a  highly  specialized 
personnel. 

Great  loss  of  life  has  been  avoided  by  boat 
drills.  In  many  accidents  at  sea  an  appal- 
ling loss  of  life  has  resulted  from  the  clum- 
siness of  passengers  and  crews  in  taking  to 
the  boats.  This  is  now  a  thing  of  the  past. 
From  the  first  day  out,  all  the  passengers  on 
board  are  required  to  go  regularly  through 
a  boat  drill  to  prepare  them  for  accident. 
Each  person  learns  the  position  of  the  life- 
preservers,  and  how  to  put  them  on  with  the 
least  delay.  When  an  accident  befalls, 
263 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

there  is  no  confusion.  Each  one  knows  his 
place  in  the  boats,  and  has  been  trained  to 
take  it  without  excitement  or  protest.  It  is 
largely  due  to  such  drills  that  the  loss  of  life 
on  torpedoed  ships  has  steadily  decreased 
with  the  progress  of  the  war. 

Aboard  the  submarine-chasers  the  drills 
are  even  more  rigid.  The  crews  of  these 
craft  literally  live  in  their  life-preservers. 
A  special  form  of  life-belt,  or  rather  life- 
jacket,  has  been  designed  for  them.  It 
completely  envelops  them,  while  a  high  roll- 
ing collar  protects  the  neck.  The  men  eat 
and  sleep  in  these  jackets,  so  that  when  an 
accident  befalls  no  time  will  be  lost.  A  sin- 
gle shot  from  a  great  gun,  or  the  explosion 
of  a  torpedo  or  a  depth  charge,  may  throw 
these  men  into  the  water  without  the  slight- 
est warning.  All  this  preparation  is  made 
to  save  a  few  seconds  of  priceless  time. 


264 


XLII 
MANNING  THE  FLEETS 

THE  record  of  America's  naval  forces 
abroad  has  been  made  possible  by  a 
remarkable  feat  of  organization  at  home. 
The  beginning  of  the  war  found  America's 
naval  forces  much  reduced.  In  the  spring 
of  191 7  there  were  only  about  seventy  thou- 
sand men  enrolled  in  the  Navy,  and  some 
thirteen  thousand  in  the  Marine  Corps. 
Such  was  our  first  line  of  defense  at  the 
close  of  the  third  year  of  the  world  war. 

To-day  there  are  more  than  half  a  million 
fighting  men  enrolled  in  these  branches  of 
the  service,  and  men  are  being  mustered  in 
at  the  rate  of  two  thousand  a  day.  Chosen 
from  every  rank  of  life,  these  great  forces 
are  being  constantly  fed  into  the  great  train- 
ing camps  for  the  Navy.  The  complicated 
science  of  seamanship  must  be  taught  from 
the  beginning.  A  few  months  later  these 
same  lads  take  up  perhaps  the  most  difficult 
problems  ever  faced  by  American  sailors. 
265 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

An  unprecedented  problem  confronted  the 
United  States  Navy.  The  inroads  of  the 
submarine  in  the  early  months  of  the  war 
were  terrifying.  New  methods  of  attack 
and  defense  must  be  involved,  and  men  must 
be  trained  to  put  them  into  practice.  The 
Navy  was  suddenly  called  upon  to  man  hun- 
dreds of  ships.  The  acquisition  of  the  Ger- 
man merchant-ships  alone  required  the  serv- 
ices of  thousands  of  skilled  officers  and  men. 
The  Vaterland,  rechristened  the  Leviathan, 
required  nearly  fifteen  hundred  men. 

No  figures  may  be  printed  as  to  the  force 
of  naval  men  now  aboard  the  merchant 
fleets,  but  the  total  is  amazing.  Men  must 
be  trained  on  deck  and  in  the  engine-rooms 
besides  the  gun  crews.  The  problem  of  the 
submarine  defense  is  very  complicated,  and 
only  by  tireless  efficiency  can  the  tables  be 
turned  against  the  undersea  craft.  Every 
man  placed  aboard  the  merchant  fleets  in 
these  war  times  must  be  dependable. 

The  men  recruited  in  such  force  are  first 

given    technical     instruction.     Later    they 

must  serve  in  the  engine-room  and  on  the 

bridge,  to  gain  actual  experience  before  the 

266 


MANNING  THE  FLEETS 

great  fleets  are  intrusted  to  them.  For 
many  weary  months  they  are  required  to 
"split  watches"  with  men  already  qualified 
for  the  work.  A  few  weeks  more,  and  these 
same  lads,  newly  recruited  from  the  schools 
and  officers,  are  intrusted  with  the  safety  of 
great  ships  carrying  troops  or  stores  to  the 
war  zone. 

As  quickly  as  ships  are  built,  the  men 
stand  ready  to  man  them.  Our  feat  in  turn- 
ing out  ships  of  every  class  has  no  parallel 
in  history.  There  are  at  the  present  writing- 
some  twelve  hundred  in  process  of  construc- 
tion. The  feat  of  training  men  to  man 
them  is  even  more  remarkable.  Secretary 
Daniels  has  recently  announced  that  in  the 
fall  of  1918  one  hundred  thousand  addi- 
tional men  will  be  needed  for  the  new  fleet. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  Germany  openly 
sneered  at  the  idea  that  a  great  navy  could 
be  built  up  in  America  in  a  few  months  or 
even  years.  Their  naval  experts  laughed 
at  the  theory  that  men  quickly  trained  could 
cope  with  the  complicated  problems  of  mod- 
ern warfare.  And  there  were  many  doubt- 
ful minds  even  in  America.  The  gunners 
267 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

on  the  great  merchant  fleets  must  fight  under 
new  and  difficult  conditions.  The  crews  of 
the  submarine-chasers  of  every  kind  must  be 
highly  skilled,  and  hardened  to  experiences 
that  it  is  generally  supposed  come  only  with 
long  practice. 

The  speed  with  which  the  American  Navy 
responded,  once  war  was  declared,  came  as 
a  gratifying  surprise  on  both  sides  of  the  At- 
lantic. As  early  as  May  16,  1917,  it  was 
officially  announced  that  a  flotilla  of  United 
States  destroyers  had  arrived  safely  in  Brit- 
ish waters.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  had 
reached  the  other  side  rather  earlier,  but  it 
had  been  planned  to  give  the  officers  and 
crews  some  time  to  rest  before  entering 
active  service.  When  the  American  officers 
reported  to  the  British  authorities  for  duty, 
they  were  asked  how  long  it  would  take  them 
to  get  ready  for  service.  The  trip  over  in 
the  frail  destroyers  had  been  very  rough, 
and  the  men  were  naturally  fatigued.  The 
officers'  answer,  which  deserves  to  be  remem- 
bered with  many  other  famous  phrases  of 
the  American  Navy,  was : 

"We  are  ready  now." 
268 


o 


MANNING  THE  FLEETS 

While  it  was  understood  on  this  side  of 
the  Atlantic  that  the  destroyers  began  their 
work  May  16,  they  had  made  their  presence 
felt  as  early  as  May  4.  By  the  middle  of 
May  it  was  officially  announced  by  the  Brit- 
ish Admiralty  that  the  Americans  were  giv- 
ing an  excellent  account  of  themselves.  It 
is  now  permitted  to  state  that  the  American 
fleet  sailed  late  in  April,  and  that  its  first  port 
of  call  was  Oueenstown,  Ireland,  where  it 
received  an  enthusiastic  reception. 

The  official  recognition  of  its  entrance 
into  the  war  is  contained  in  the  following 
message  from  Vice-Admiral  Sir  David  Be- 
atty,  Commander  of  the  British  Grand  Fleet, 
to  Admiral  Henry  T.  Mayo,  Commander  of 
the  United  States  Atlantic  Fleet.     It  reads: 

"The  Grand  Fleet  rejoices  that  the  Atlan- 
tic Fleet  appreciates  the  messages  from  the 
British  Fleet  and  welcomes  the  opportunity 
for  work  with  the  British  Fleet  for  the  free- 
dom of  the  seas." 

At  the  present  writing — August  1,  191 8 — ■ 
there  are  known  to  be  two  hundred  and  fifty 
American  warships  having  permanent  bases 
in  European  waters. 

271 


PART  V 
WITH  THE  MARINES 


XLIII 

WITH  THE  MARINES 

ANY  one  reading  the  list  of  those  men- 
tioned for  "conspicuous  bravery"  in 
the  Navy  will  be  impressed  by  the  surprising 
variety  of  the  services  performed.  Among 
hundreds  of  such  awards,  no  two  acts  are 
alike.  The  most  imaginative  teller  of  sea 
tales  could  scarcely  conceive  such  endless 
variety  and  contrast  of  incident. 

The  part  that  the  American  Navy  is  play- 
ing in  the  Great  War  naturally  overshadows, 
for  the  time,  its  other  activities.  However, 
far  from  the  theaters  of  war,  the  American 
seaman  still  finds  opportunities  to  distin- 
guish himself.  Even  in  the  routine  of  daily 
duties  there  is  the  element  of  surprise,  and 
opportunity  need  knock  but  once. 

Two  American  boys  attached  to  the  Ma- 
rine Corps,  a  service  not  unknown  to  fame, 
chanced  recently  to  be  on  shore  leave  in  the 
275 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

Dominican  Republic  when  an  incipient  revo- 
lution developed.  Like  many  of  these  polit- 
ical outbreaks,  it  fell  with  the  suddenness  of 
a  tropical  thunder-storm.  No  political  revo- 
lution followed,  and  the  outbreak  was  later 
described  in  the  official  reports  of  the  Navy 
as  a  "native  brawl";  but  for  a  time  it  raged 
with  fierceness  only  possible  in  political  dis- 
cussions in  those  latitudes. 

The  American  Marine  Corporal  William 
Henigsmith  and  Private  C.  E.  Millard  at 
the  time  were  quietly  enjoying  their  shore 
leave.  It  was  Sunday.  The  streets  were 
crowded  with  a  holiday  crowd,  and  political 
upheavals  would  scarcely  be  anticipated. 
The  Americans  were  objects  of  more  or  less 
curiosity,  but  the  crowd  appeared  friendly 
and  the  merchants  accepted  their  money  for 
various  purchases  with  the  utmost  willing- 
ness. No  one  could  have  imagined  that 
these  pleasure-seekers  could  be  transformed 
in  a  moment  into  a  dangerous  mob  threat- 
ening the  lives  of  the  Americans. 

The  marines'  attention  was  attracted  by 
shouting  in  a  side  street,  and  on  turning  the 
corner  they  found  a  crowd  of  natives  in  vio- 
276 


WITH  THE  MARINES 

lent  altercation.  The  group  quickly  divided, 
and  in  a  moment  were  savagely  attacking 
two  men.  There  could  be  no  doubt  about 
their  murderous  intention.  Before  the  ma- 
rines could  reach  the  spot,  both  men  had  been 
wounded,  one  fatally  and  the  other  seriously. 

The  marines  went  to  the  assistance  of  the 
wounded  men.  They  had  no  interest  in 
local  political  questions;  they  were  prepared 
to  render  first  aid. 

But  the  situation  was  perilous.  The  odds 
against  the  Americans,  on  a  conservative 
basis,  were  several  thousand  to  one.  The 
crowd  violently  resented  any  interference  in 
their  political  affairs,  and  for  the  two  men 
to  go  into  that  seething  mass  of  excited  peo- 
ple was  a  highly  dangerous  undertaking.  In 
commending  them  later  for  their  act,  the 
naval  authorities  especially  praised  the  men 
for  their  cool  thinking  and  quick  decision. 

Henigsmith  and  Millard  consulted  for  a 
moment,  and  then  hurried  forward,  pushing 
their  way  through  the  crowd  to  the  injured 
men.  The  crowd  shouted  insults  and  abuse 
at  very  close  quarters.  Arms  and  even 
knives  were  brandished  in  their  faces.  But 
277 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

the  marines  quite  calmly  kneeled  beside  the 
men  and  administered  first  aid.  One  of  the 
men  was  saved,  but  the  other  was  past  help. 
When  the  men  had  been  bandaged  as  well 
as  the  situation  allowed,  the  marines  at- 
tempted to  take  them  to  the  hospital.  The 
crowd  violently  resented  such  interference. 
Lifting  the  wounded  men  to  their  feet,  the 
Americans  began  to  force  their  way  through 
the  crowd.  Had  they  shown  any  trace  of 
fear  or  attempted  to  retreat,  they  would 
doubtless  have  been  murdered.  But  their 
coolness  seemed  to  awe  the  crowd  and  they 
advanced  slowly. 

Carrying  their  double  burden,  the  men 
finally  reached  the  hospital  in  safety.  But 
the  crowd  was  not  appeased,  and,  gathering 
about  the  building,  continued  to  threaten  the 
Americans.  The  local  government  seemed 
powerless  to  protect  the  hospital  or  to  dis- 
perse the  crowd.  The  news  of  the  affair 
quickly  spread  and  the  crowd  grew  to  large 
proportions.  The  marines  had  finished 
their  work  in  administering  first  aid  and 
carrying  the  wounded  to  the  hospital,  and 
their  responsibility  seemed  at  an  end.  But, 
278 


WITH  THE  MARINES 

since  the  hospital  itself  seemed  in  danger  of 
attack,  they  mounted  guard  before  it  to  pro- 
tect the  wounded,  and  remained  at  this  peril- 
ous post  for  ten  hours  before  it  was  consid- 
ered safe  to  leave.  The  men  have  been  offi- 
cially commended  by  Major-General  George 
Barnett  of  the  Marine  Corps. 


279 


XLIV 
"FIRST  TO  FIGHT" 

MEASURED  by  European  standards, 
our  Marines,  on  reaching  France, 
were  still  green  troops.  They  had  little  or 
no  "trench  training,"  and  were  compara- 
tively new  to  the  complicated  game  of  war- 
fare on  the  western  front.  Under  the 
pressure  of  necessity,  they  were  thrown 
into  the  thick  of  the  fight  and  confronted  by 
"crack"  German  troops.  Among  the  dead 
afterward  identified  before  them  were  found 
members  of  the  famous  Prussian  Guards 
and  Death  Heads,  indicating  that  their  an- 
tagonists were  the  most  formidable  that 
could  be  mustered  aganist  them. 

The  Marines  engaged  in  this  sector  com- 
prised two  detachments  of  infantry  with  the 
customary  auxiliary  service.  It  is  believed 
that  the  detachment  had  a  larger  proportion 
of  regular  army  officers  than  is  common  to 
most  American  forces;  but  the  men  were, 
280 


"FIRST  TO  FIGHT" 

after  all,  of  about  the  general  average  of 
our  enlisted  personnel. 

The  order  to  advance  was  received  at  five 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  May  30,  191 8. 
An  immense  amount  of  labor  is  involved  in 
rapidly  executing  such  an  order.  The  men 
were  widely  scattered  throughout  more  than 
fifty  villages  in  this  region.  It  is  a  matter  of 
record  that  the  first  of  the  men  were  col- 
lected, equipped,  and  entrained  for  the  front 
in  a  few  minutes,  and  at  the  end  of  twelve 
and  a  half  hours  the  last  of  the  forces,  with 
their  horses,  food,  and  ammunition,  were  on 
their  way. 

By  midnight  some  of  the  emergency 
American  troops  were  already  in  position, 
and  by  nine  o'clock  the  following  morning 
the  entire  force  had  been  thrown  across  the 
famous  Chateau  Thierry  road.  The  men 
carried  two  days'  rations  and  supplies. 
Ammunition  dumps  were  established,  tem- 
porary intrenchments  constructed,  and  the 
artillery  was  brought  up  to  support  the  in- 
fantry. 

During  the  night  of  June  1  a  gap  two  and 
half  miles  in  extent  was  reported,  through 
281 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

which  German  advance  seemed  imminent. 
The  French  corps  commander  ordered  the 
American  Marines  to  "fill  this  gap  if  you 
can."  The  men  who  were  rushed  forward 
comprised  one  infantry  unit,  a  machine-gun 
unit,  and  a  detachment  of  Marines.  The 
men  had  been  wakened  from  their  sleep  and 
hurried  along  dark  roads,  and  had  taken  up 
their  position  on  some  open  hills.  By  nine 
o'clock  the  following  morning  they  were  in 
readiness;  and  against  the  most  determined 
attacks  of  the  German  troops  the  line  held 
firm. 

Several  days  of  severe  fighting  followed. 
The  Marine  units  repelled  two  severe  attacks 
on  June  4.  The  marching  forces  now  began 
to  arrive,  and  the  entire  unit  was  soon  in 
place  with  the  artillery  supporting  it.  Sev- 
eral attacks  were  repulsed  on  June  5.  On 
the  following  night  an  especially  determined 
effort  by  the  enemy  failed  to  yield  an  inch. 
Later  a  part  of  a  Marine  unit  counter- 
attacked and  drove  the  Germans  as  far  as 
Bussaires.  The  entire  force  now  attacked 
in  the  direction  of  Torcy,  driving  the  enemy 
back,  inflicting  heavy  losses,  and  taking 
many  prisoners. 

282 


"FIRST  TO  FIGHT" 

It  was  not  originally  intended  to  take 
Torcy,  which  was  not  one  of  the  objectives; 
but,  once  started,  the  Marines  were  not  read- 
ily checked.  They  had  already  taken  Hill 
133,  which  commanded  the  place,  and  after 
making  the  German  position  untenable  they 
swept  the  town. 

In  recognition  of  its  splendid  work,  the 
brigade  was  cited  by  the  French  army,  and 
the  regimental  colors  received  the  Croix  de 
Guerre  and  the  palm,  the  highest  honor  won 
by  any  regiment  up  to  that  time.  The 
American  Colonel  who  was  wounded  early 
in  the  fighting  was  made  a  Chevalier  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor.  Throughout  the  fighting 
and  afterward  the  spirit  of  the  Marines  was 
above  praise.  Some  days  later,  when  the 
wounded  had  been  transferred  to  a  Paris 
hospital,  a  Marine  insisted  on  sitting  up  in 
bed  and  singing  the  old  battle  hymn  of  the 
Marines,  'The  Halls  of  Montezuma."  A 
great  chorus  instantly  joined  in,  the  wounded 
and  the  gassed  men  singing  with  a  spirit 
that  rather  shocked  the  dignity  of  the  great 
hospital. 

More  than  a  hundred  of  the  Marines  en- 
283 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  TO-DAY 

gaged  in  these  actions  have  been  awarded 
distinguished  service  medals  for  conspicuous 
bravery.  When  the  medals  were  formally 
presented,  but  thirty-seven  marines  appeared 
in  the  line,  the  rest  having  died  on  the  field 
or  were  in  the  hospital. 

The  presentation  took  place  on  the  lawn 
of  a  beautiful  old  chateau  on  the  banks  of  the 
Marne.  The  American  General  who  pinned 
the  medals  on  the  uniforms  of  these  men 
found  some  very  happy  phrases  to  describe 
the  work  of  the  Marines. 

"It  is  with  inexpressible  pride  and  satis- 
faction," he  said,  "that  your  commander  re- 
counts your  glorious  deeds  on  the  field  of 
battle.  In  the  early  days  of  June,  on  a  front 
of  twenty  kilometers,  after  night  marches 
and  with  only  the  reserve  rations  which  you 
carried,  you  stood  like  a  wall  against  the 
enemy  advance  on  Paris.  For  this  timely 
action  you  have  received  the  thanks  of  the 
French  people  whose  homes  you  saved,  and 
the  generous  praise  of  your  comrades  in 
arms. 

"Since  the  organization  of  our  sector,  in 
the  face  of  strong  opposition  you  have  ad- 
284 


"FIRST  TO  FIGHT" 

vanced  your  lines  two  kilometers  on  a  front 
of  eight  kilometers.  You  have  engaged, 
and  defeated  with  great  loss,  three  German 
divisions,  and  have  occupied  important 
strong  points — Belleau  Wood,  Bouresches, 
and  Vaux.  You  have  taken  about  fourteen 
hundred  prisoners,  many  machine-guns,  and 
much  other  material.  The  complete  success 
of  the  infantry  was  made  possible  by  the 
splendid  cooperation  of  the  artillery,  by  the 
aid  and  assistance  of  the  engineer  and  signal 
troops,  by  the  diligent  and  watchful  care  of 
the  medical  and  supply  services,  and  by  the 
unceasing  work  of  the  well  organized  staff. 
All  elements  of  the  division  have  worked  to- 
gether as  a  well  trained  machine. 

"Amid  the  dangers  and  trials  of  battle, 
every  officer  and  every  man  has  done  well  his 
part.  Let  the  stir,  ing  deeds,  hardships,  and 
sacrifices  of  the  past  month  remain  forever 
a  bright  spot  in  our  history.  Let  the  sacred 
memory  of  our  fallen  comrades  spur  us  on  to 
renewed  effort,  and  to  the  glory  of  American 
arms." 

THE    END 


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